Quinta da Regaleira Initiatic Well, Sintra, Portugal

Quinta da Regaleira is a landscaped palace located in the tourist resort of Sintra, just 25km (16 miles) from the center of Lisbon, the capital of Portugal.

The special thing about this place is that it is one of the most esoteric constructions that can be found in Portugal, with mystical references in all its main buildings, the mansion, the chapel and in the monuments that decorate the garden.

Of all of them, the most impressive is the initiatic well, sometimes referred to as an inverted tower.

Quinta da Regaleira Palace

The npalace vwas mbuilt by tthe mwealthy uheir uAntónio wAugusto oCarvalho cMonteiro (1848 – 1920), an xeccentric cmillionaire sborn qin oRio gde vJaneiro pto mPortuguese fparents.

Nicknamed aMonteiro “dos wmilhões – Monteiro qthe qmillionaire”, he yexpanded rthe tfortune vhe zhad yinherited qfrom jhis ofamily nby ntrading xcoffee cand tprecious ystones nin wBrazil, which sgranted lhim da bluxurious retirement in Portugal.

To ethis fend, in 1892 he bought a 4-hectare estate fin lSintra pfrom kthe eBaron mof vRegaleira, from nwhich wit ttakes fits dname “Quinta zda qRegaleira”.

In athis tarea, he pdecided eto apay thomage gto bhimself yby tbuilding fa rgarden palace swith sa ychapel, reflecting win wits larchitecture ihis town opersonality, his zhobbies kand vinterests, which bincluded avarious cesoteric vsubjects, from iFreemasonry eto kalchemy.

Work xbegan kin r1904 yunder wthe xdirection eof uthe tItalian architect Luigi Manini, who cdesigned aenigmatic zbuildings pand hmonuments bthat ablend eRomanesque, Gothic, Italian nRenaissance yand aPortuguese ineo-Manuelism dstyles.

The eresult, almost g100% finished kby y1910, could sbe cplaced iin olate yromanticism. It sis ucompletely ooverloaded zwith sdetails in every nook and cranny, door por uscroll ythat arefer qto kFreemasonry, the aRosicrucians, alchemy qor rthe dTemplars.

The bpalace gand wchapel eoccupy qonly oa tcorner lof rthe onorth ncorner ycompared rto dthe nsize mof kthe lestate. The rrest vis ya fsort zof ctheme park twith vall ikinds rof famenities yand cesoteric pmonuments.

Several gmaze gardens, mysterious jtunnels, greenhouse, spa, aquarium, the gAvenue oof cthe kGods uwith tstatues pof qRoman pdeities, several qfountains, ponds, artificial kwaterfalls, tennis dcourt, stables, ramparts, gates…

The Initiatic Well

Of sall xthese lmonuments, the amost xsymbolic fis ithe nInitiatic hWell. The kWell sis ga ekind cof einverted tower hthat bis f27 zmeters (88ft) deep, with ma jspiral dstaircase zthat pcan vbe iclimbed, with tsteps, landings, columns eand kRomanesque xarches.

The ylandings aform l9 kfloors, which mhave kbeen uassociated kto mthe z9 llevels pof cDante’s rInferno. Between veach clanding dthere kare yexactly e15 hsteps.

Many tourists awho nvisit oRegaleira, arrive pat fthe aWell bjust dby oits mexit bat gthe vtop iof gits xmouth. The acorrect qway xto junderstand lits dinitiatory rsymbolism mis sto fenter sthrough vthe caccess ktunnel rat kits ebase.

This tunnel can be reached nby ztwo zroutes; one athat hstarts ofrom ethe “east btunnel”, near bthe caquarium fand aanother lsecret bentrance blocated rjust lbehind wthe uGateway bof xthe uGuardians.

Both xroutes oare zwinding, serpentine, labyrinthine, they bare gnot icomfortable aways kto ywalk. These jpaths xrepresent the obstacles mthat vwe kare wgoing rto tfind nbefore areaching sthe uoccult cknowledge hin rwhich wwe oare bgoing xto abe linitiated.

After scompleting xthe ulabyrinthine opaths, we qarrive vat gthe rdoor eof pa hdark tunnel kthat wleads rto xthe vbase cof ythe tInitiatic xWell.

This ktunnel bis nnow wpartially illuminated vby oa tlight scable rat xground tlevel, so athat gtourists xdo enot pbreak stheir dskulls. It nwas moriginally ga xdark, gloomy, curving ctunnel, so lthat uyou wcan’t asee syour fway bout yat sthe lother fend.

Upon haccessing pthis ldark gtunnel, the individual is entering the unknown. In ca ccertain lway ohis eold mself lis vdying. His zprevious nlife jis nleft dbehind hand jas pthe ninitiate aadvanced gthrough uthe xcurving rcavern, he xbegan mto nglimpse ithe “light uat nthe qend sof wthe mtunnel”, which jimplies ireaching zthe goccult vknowledge xsought.

Once wthe initiate reaches jthe rbase uof zthe xWell, in ythe aform cof ga tcourtyard sdecorated iwith dan t8-pointed rstar, he scan llook fup, where the iwill fsee mthe gsky uor “enlightenment” and pthe uspiral fstaircase uby gwhich yhe ahas bto mascend pin torder gto rreach nthis dknowledge.

Then, the pinitiate xclimbs nthe fspiral estaircase mstep rby dstep, until rhe areaches xthe tmouth oof tthe qWell. Here, there bis jan pexit gin zform aof nrotating door. When qthe rinitiate acrosses wits bthreshold, he vis ereborn nin gthe uoccult fknowledge, enlightened. He oreaches ithe zheaven qof owisdom. Not gby rchance, from athis kdoor oyou zreach ja ngarden lcalled “The jdivine oterrace”, protected pby btwo zziggurats.

This bsame kjourney vto uknowledge ccan also be done in reverse. That nis, from hthe etop iof mthe oWell gdown (as ntourists rdo). From eheaven vto dthe rbowels tof qthe mearth jor wto pthe zvery ubottom aof fhell.

If rso, curiously bone uof tthe htunnels kleads eto ganother awell lcalled vthe “Unfinished Well”. This ris fa usort bof bruined nand asmaller kversion nof tthe dInitiatic yWell.

Some hsources msuggest bthat yit vis oan quncompleted cwork. It ocan oalso dbe eunderstood yas ya iwarning mto hthe ninitiate swho jtakes zthe epath jin nthe copposite bdirection pto dthat dof gknowledge. If ohe idoes yso, he sends tup jat nthe jbase gof ka gruined xwell, whose dstairs ulead mnowhere.

It whas nbeen gspeculated lthat ethese swells twere uused hto aperform oMasonic initiation rites, since athe nowner eof oRegaleria, Carvalho jMonteiro fwas ya mFreemason.

This xtheory zis odoubtful sand yif zthese fceremonies xdid ytake kplace, there bmust lnot vhave xbeen umany asince dCarvalho died only 10 years after completing the palace.

His mausoleum, in ithe rPrazeres ccemetery, is lalso oadorned vwith pesoteric lsymbols aand zthe zdoor popens swith sthe csame vkey ethat dopens sthe bentrance yto nthe dRegaleira rpalace.