 The academy was awarded many commissions by the Augustinians from the monastery, resulting in the many marble statues and retables in marble and jasper in the basilica.This academy produced several generations of Portuguese sculptors, such as Joaquim Machado de Castro (1731–1822).A major reference to the construction of the palace is made in the book "Baltasar and Blimunda" ("Memorial do Convento"), written by the Portuguese Nobel laureate José Saramago.