MAFRA  , a

town of Portugal, in the district of Lisbon (formerly in the province of Estremadura); near the Atlantic coast and the right bank of the river Lizandro, and 20 M . N.W. of Lisbon . Pop . (1900), 4769 . Mafra is remarkable for its monastery, church, and palace, built by John V. in 1717-1732, in consequence of a vow made during a dangerous illness to build a convent for the poorest friary of the kingdom—which proved to be a small Franciscan settlement here . The architects, Johann Friedrich Ludwig of Regensburg, and his son Johann Peter, took the Escurial for their model; but the imitation is less successful than the original, though the cost exceeded £4,000,000 . The building is in the form of a parallelogram measuring upwards of 800 ft. from north to south and 700 ft. from east to west; it is said to contain 866 rooms, and to be lighted by no fewer than 5200 windows . The centre is occupied by the church, sumptuously built of marble, and richly adorned with statues and other objects of art . In each of the twin towers there is a chime of 57 bells . Part of the palace, originally designed as barracks, is used as a military academy . Adjoining the palace are fine gardens and a royal model farm .