Chalet and Garden of the Countess of Edla, Sintra

The Chalet and Garden of the Countess of Edla (Portuguese: Chalet e Jardim da Condessa d'Edla), also known as the Casa do Regalo, are in the Municipality of Sintra, in the Lisbon District of Portugal. They are situated on the western side of the park that surrounds the Pena Palace, and are part of the Sintra Cultural Landscape, classified by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site since 1995. They are also part of the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park.

Following the purchase by the government the chalet gradually went into decline. Following a fire in 1999 that partially destroyed it, reconstruction, supported by EEA and Norway Grants, was undertaken from 2007 in order to return the building to its original state. The building and garden were reopened to the public in 2011.

In 2012 the restoration project received a Portuguese Tourism Award, as well as the Grémio Literário Award. In 2013 it was also awarded the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage in the “Conservation” category. The Chalet now looks just as it did at the time it was built. It is a brick construction covered in plaster and painted to resemble wooden planks. The windows, balconies, handrails, are decorated with cork. Inside, the restoration team went to considerable lengths, with very little information to go on, to identify the use of the various rooms and to reconstitute the decorative elements painted on the walls.