The public audience on 8 July 1716 of the Ambassador sent by the Portuguese king D. João V to Pope Clement XI was the culmination of a long process of diplomatic negotiation seeking to obtain certain prerogatives for the Portuguese church including the elevation to the category of Patriarchal Church and Basilica of the Royal Chapel.
The audience ceremony was preceded by the organization of a magnificent procession conveying the Ambassador Marquês de Fontes from his residence in Piazza Colonna to the Quirinal Palace.
In the procession, the Ambassador and his retinue travelled in fifteen coaches followed by more than ninety Prelates and a quite considerable number of foreign and Roman Horsemen and Noblemen accompanying the Cardinals and Princes in over three-hundred coaches.
Being a public holiday, people from every social condition could be seen in the streets and squares and at the windows where the procession was moving along, proceeding from the Ambassador’s residence, to the Quirinal Palace, the Pope’s summer residence, in Monte Cavallo Square.
The procession was composed of five coaches in the ambassadorial retinue and ten accompanying vehicles.
Three of the principal coaches from this Embassy Extraordinary are in the Museum’s collection and highlighted in this exhibition that gather other important documents related with this memorable event and other diplomatic activities (movie).
Temporary exhibition Gallery
from 9 July 2016 to 15 January 2017
