main dining hall was used to exhibit gifts received by the Chief of State. In 1998, the construction of the Centro de Documentação e Informação (Documentation and Information Centre), was begun by architect João Luís Carrilho da Graça, the winner of a public competition promoted by the Secretary-General of the Presidency. President Jorge Sampaio commissioned painter Paula Rego for a series of paintings to decorate the walls of the Palace chapel in 2002. The painter eventually gave her works entitled "Ciclo da Vida da Virgem Maria e da Paixão de Jesus Cristo" (Cycle of Life of the Virgin Mary and the Passion of Jesus Christ". The early exhibitions and Presidential initiatives would lead to the inauguration on 5 October 2004 of the Presidential Museum (). Similarly, the King D. Luís I Painting Gallery was the setting for the 2005 exposition, Do Palácio de Belém, which presented the history of the palace and its architecture, as well as an overview of artistic works that have been displayed there. On 10 March 2006, a Ministry of Culture dispatch reclassified the Palace as a National Monument to include the palace, gardens, Museum of the Presidency and other annexes. Architecture Exterior Belém Palace is a "L" shape building, with the main space located in a rectangular three-volume space in the south façade. This front, which faces the formal gardens, presents a space of five bodies, flanked by wedges surmounted by pinnacles. A combination of Mannerist and Baroque styles, has a central body with floor level arcades, over a colonnade gallery surmounted by a triangular pediment decorated in stucco. The two outside blocks are farther in front then the main building, forming a terrace delimited by balusters and accessible by lateral staircases. The top of these lateral walls are topped by twelve panels of monochromatic azulejo tile. On the veranda are 14 azulejo panels representing figures from mythology, with many showing the "Labours of Hercules", including "Plutão e Cérbero" (Pluto and Cerberus), "Vénus" (Venus), "Neptuno" (Neptune), "Hércules" (Hercules), "Hércules e a égua de Diómedes" (Hercules and the Mares of Diomedes), "Figura masculina" (Masculine figure), "Figura masculina com arco e flechas" (Masculine figure with bow and arrow), two panels of "Figura feminina" (Female figure), "Hércules e a ave de Estinfália" (Hercules and the Stymphalian birds), "Figura masculina com machado" (Masculine figure with hoe), "Hércules e a serpente de Ládon" (Hercules and the serpent Ladon), "Hércules e