´Old Town of Funchal – The Community and its Sea`

The project ´Old Town of Funchal – The Community and its sea`, is the place which we now refer to goes back to the early settlement period of the island of Madeira.

At the beginning of the 15th century, the first families settled there, giving rise to a very old community that is deeply connected to the Madeiran capital. Due to its proximity to the sea, they easily dedicated themselves to fishing and shipbuilding.

This community, with the contribution of all but especially the most devout and religious, helped to build not only the Chapel of Corpo Santo (Holy Body Chapel), but also the City Wall, a construction that helped to defend the city against the attacks and looting that were frequent at the time, being in effect, at the base of a very own cultural identity and characteristics that defines much of what we can today say is the beginning of the “Madeiran Culture”. 

The imposing São Tiago Fortress (Forte de São Tiago) was also built on that site, with the same purpose of defending this settlement, a classified building that was built in the early 17th century as a fortification to defend the bay of Funchal. Due to its excellent location, which benefited from the extensive pebbles that adorned the entire profile of the city bay, all that area facilitated the fishing activity of the then neighbourhood of Santa Maria do Calhau, today “Zona Velha”. 

Besides the fishing activity, the area of the old “Arsenal”, presented itself as an authentic shipyard dedicated to construction and naval repair, the main engine of the local economy. Over the years, the landscape in that area has undergone several changes. Of the City Wall only small sections exist, one of them near the entrance of São Tiago beach and, in relation to the shipbuilding at Arsenal, it has been deactivated for many years, having given way to a hotel (Hotel Porto Santa Maria).

The beach of São Tiago, once called “Praia do Arsenal” – which still maintains some of its original identity – has resisted the passing of the years and is much frequented by tourists and, above all, by elderly people who seek to feel their (former) community by being with the amateur fishermen in that unique and genuine environment of these people of Funchal, old habits and customs, deeply genuine, which tend to be lost if the responsible entities do not give them their due value and, in this case, the inhabitants of Funchal themselves, the necessary assistance in what concerns the preservation of the several patrimonial dimensions that still subsist there. 

Bearing in mind that there are pressing needs at various levels so that the identity values of this community are not lost, the Municipal Theatre Baltazar Dias recognises that “Old Town of Funchal – The Community and its Sea” is an excellent opportunity to pay homage not only to the people who have already left, but also to those who still preserve this local fishing community identity, which is directly linked to the beginning of settlement of the island of Madeira and as such, continues the traditional habits and customs that are at the base of the Culture of the Madeiran People.