Pena

Pena is a toponym and surname with several notable uses. The most prominent reference is the Palácio Nacional da Pena, commonly known as Pena Palace, a Romanticist castle perched on a hill above Sintra, Portugal. Built in the 1840s on the site of a former monastery and medieval fortress, it was commissioned by King Ferdinand II as a royal residence and a showcase of 19th-century eclectic architecture. The palace combines elements of Gothic, Manueline, and Moorish styles and is noted for its vivid colors and dramatic hillside setting. Since 1994 it has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Cultural Landscape of Sintra and remains one of Portugal’s most visited monuments.

Pena also functions as a surname of Spanish and Portuguese origin. It is carried by many families across the Iberian Peninsula and in Latin American countries, with variant spellings such as Peña in countries that use the tilde. In addition, pena is a common noun in both Spanish and Portuguese, meaning sorrow, pity, or penalty, depending on context. The name and the word appear in various toponyms and historical references across regions influenced by Spanish and Portuguese languages.

In sum, Pena most commonly denotes the Sintra palace in Portugal, but it also denotes a family name and a common linguistic term with meanings related to sorrow or punishment, as well as appearing in place names tied to Spanish- or Portuguese-speaking areas.