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Imamat Ismaili, an institution led by Prince Aga Khan, this week acquired the Leitão Palace in Lisbon for 13.5 million euros, next to the land where the future world headquarters will be built, the agency source told Lusa.
According to an official source of the institution, a project to rehabilitate the property has not yet been budgeted.
Palacete Leitão, on Rua Marquês de Fronteira, occupies the land adjacent to the future world headquarters of Imamat Ismaili and should host part of the services that will be installed there.
With the new acquisition completed this week, the source said, Imamat Ismaili intends to reinforce investments in Portugal, already planning the expansion of the future world headquarters that is being installed in the Palacio de Mendonça, a historic building, currently the subject of an intervention by recovery and rehabilitation.
The two neighboring buildings will allow a greater concentration of the services of the institution and its international agencies in that area of Lisbon.
The installation in Portugal of the Imamat Ismaili headquarters was established through an agreement, established in 2015, between the Portuguese State and Imamat Ismaili.
The Lisbon City Council and the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage approved the acquisition by not exercising the right of first refusal in the business.
The building, from 1904, was designed by Nicola Bigaglia, a Venetian architect, watercolorist and modeler based in Portugal, and owes its name to the first owner, the jeweler José Pinto Leitão.
Through the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), Imamat Ismaili is responsible for social and cultural development projects around the world, with the global objective of improving the quality of life of the population.
The Ismailis are a Shiite community of more than 15 million ethnically and linguistically diverse people residing in various countries around the world.
In Europe, Portugal has one of the highest concentrations of Ismaili Muslims with a community of 10,000 people.
Inamat is the institution or office of the Muslim Imam Shia Ismaili.
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