Funchal's Zona Velha: from the Sé to the sea fort: a self-guided walk
By Alleytale
Old Funchal on foot, from the cathedral to the Atlantic
Funchal's old town grew along the water, and its stops carry the sea and the island's trade: the sugar that brought Madeira economic power, a fort and a customs square at the mouth of two streams, the power station that brought electric light, a market that sells fish, a chapel for fishermen, a church born of a plague vow and a fort built against pirates.
The stops
Work on the Sé began in 1486 under the future King Manuel I, and it was completed in 1514, the year the pope set up the Diocese of Funchal. The roof is cedar wood in a Mudéjar-inspired design, and the carved choir stalls include cherubs holding bunches of bananas or a wineskin. Its walls are built from volcanic rock carried from the cliffs at Cabo Girão.
Photo: Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 4.0 This museum is dedicated to the history of the island's sugar industry between the 15th and 19th centuries, the cycle known as White Gold. Its collection includes archaeological finds from 1989 excavations at the former houses of the Flemish merchant João Esmeraldo, in Praça Colombo, on the site of buildings demolished in 1876. It also holds sculpture, goldsmithing and furniture that reflect the economic power the sugar cycle brought.
Photo: Dr. Thomas Liptak — CC BY-SA 4.0 This street is named for Dr. Fernão de Ornelas, who became mayor of Funchal at 27, the youngest mayor the city has had, according to the city's tourism page. He is remembered for a bold vision: he opened and widened streets, designed viewpoints so the best landscapes could be seen from several places, and outlined the tourist route of the capital. The street was being opened in the 1940s, when he left office at 38, and it runs about 200 metres down to the Market Bridge, in front of the Lavradores Market.
Photo: Rui Carita — CC BY-SA 4.0 In 1572 King Sebastian ordered Funchal fortified, and a small fort, São Filipe, took shape where the Santa Luzia and João Gomes streams reach the sea. A car park was built over its remains in 1989, and works after the flood of 20 February 2010 uncovered the old fort in April 2013. The square was once called Praça da Alfândega Velha, because the city's first customs house, founded in 1477, was built here, and it takes its present name from the pillory, which stood until 1835, when the municipality had it demolished. The column you see now is a replica.
Photo: PESP/ Wikimedia — CC BY-SA 4.0 Funchal's power station opened here in 1897, owned by the Madeira Electric Lighting Company Limited, the first electricity concessionaire in Madeira. It was shut down in 1989, and the site now houses the Museu da Eletricidade, known as the Casa da Luz. One of its exhibitions shows the different types of lighting used in the city through history, and the collection includes rare models of old machines.
Photo: Dr. Thomas Liptak — CC BY-SA 4.0 Edmundo Tavares designed this Art Deco market, which opened in 1940 as a fruit, vegetable, flower and fish market. Look for the traditional tile panels on the facade, the main entrance and the fish market, which show regional themes and were made by João Rodrigues. On the night of 23 December, the Noite do Mercado, locals traditionally meet here and in the streets around to sing Christmas songs.
Photo: Allie_Caulfield — CC BY 2.0 This is the street of painted doors: the city's tourism page counts about 200 of them. The Arte Portas Abertas project gives new life to the doors of abandoned or deteriorated houses and shops, with the aim of turning the old town into a permanent art gallery. The architect Paulo David and the decorator Nini Andrade Silva are among the Madeiran figures who took part.
Photo: Herbert wie — CC BY-SA 4.0 The street takes its name from a chapel founded by Bento da Veiga as Nossa Senhora da Boa Viagem, and it was once called Travessa do Oliveira and also Rua das Flores. The chapel standing there today, Nossa Senhora do Monte das Oliveiras, is better known as the Chapel of Boa Viagem. The city's tourism page dates its founding to 1655, while the inscription on its portal reads 1683. It has belonged to the municipality since the 20th century and is now an art gallery.
Photo: tgouv — CC BY-SA 4.0 Look for a small shrine set in grey stonework and closed by wooden doors, with a cross, a little niche and the date 1733 beneath them. Behind the doors the stonework is painted in bright colours and shows the martyrdom of Jesus. The city's tourism page lists it among Funchal's churches and chapels as the Processional Step of Rua de Santa Maria.
Photo: Joãofcf — CC BY-SA 3.0 This 15th-century chapel stands at the end of the old village of Funchal and is dedicated to the patron saint of fishermen, Saint Pedro Gonçalves Telmo, known as the Corpo Santo. Only the Gothic doorway remains from the original chapel; inside are ceiling paintings, gilded carved wood altars and Manueline sculptures. It was the centre of a confraternity that ran an infirmary for local fishermen and their families.
Photo: Paulo SP/ Wikimedia — CC BY-SA 4.0 After a plague broke out on the island, the people of Funchal made a vow to Saint James the Less in 1523, and the first stone of a church was laid that year. An earthquake ruined the old building in 1748 and work on the new church was finished in 1768. When the flood of 9 October 1803 destroyed the old mother church of Nossa Senhora do Calhau, this church became the parish church, as the inscription on its facade records. Inside, the nave ceiling is painted with an architectural allegory in trompe l'oeil, and four large canvases show the Triumph of the Eucharist.
Photo: Paulo SP/ Wikimedia — CC BY-SA 4.0 Work on this fort began around 1614 to protect Funchal from pirate attacks. Its bright yellow walls come from a restoration in the late 20th century, and inside is a small chapel that once served the soldiers stationed here. The city's tourism page adds that the fort sheltered victims of the 1803 flood.
Photo: TeWeBs — CC BY-SA 3.0
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