RSSIt takes more than one day to explore the city of Funchal, offering visitors a wide and surprising range of sites to see, as a part of the vast natural and built heritage.
Many buildings have survived until today from the flourishing 'sugar town' of the 15th and the 16th century. Most of these will be found in the centre of Funchal. The centre is divided into three historically important nucleuses: ‘São Pedro', ‘Santa Maria' and ‘Sé’.
The São Pedro parish is, after the Sé, one of the most significant and populated parishes of Funchal, Gaining its importance in the 15th century, when noble families started building their houses in this secluded area. One of the first to live here was Funchal’s first captain, João Gonçalves Zarco, who also built the chapels São Pedro and São Paulo and a small hospital, the first on the island, annexed to it. Later Funchal’s second captain, João Gonçalves da Câmara, built the beautiful property Quinta das Cruzes in this neighbourhood, where also the great Franciscan convents of São Francisco and Santa Clara and, later in the 17th century, the Mercês convent of the same Order were raised.
Located to the east of the urban centre of Funchal, this area was one of the first to be inhabited. This borough had its origins around the same time as the construction of the first church in this area in 1430. The Historical Nucleus of Santa Maria presents an interesting architectural homogeneity, which is in strong contrast to the great diversity of social structures of the people living there.
In the 16th century – based on the growth of the sugar production and exportation – Funchal became a mercantile city and the Santa Maria area retreated further east to make place for the new attraction: the Sé Cathedral.
Since 1986 the Historical Nucleus of Santa Maria is a classified zone and it was submitted to many restoration and reconstruction works since then. New projects, such as the cable car station, the new green zone new hotels, banks, underground car parks, etc. made a big contribution to this area's urban recovery.
The first buildings on the former square Campo do Duque were the Town Hall houses including the Notary’s Palace and the Assembly Rooms. This construction was completed in 1491 and two years later the construction of the ‘big church’, consecrated ‘Sé’ in 1514, started.
Now, there were no doubts left about Dom Manuel’s intention of building a new city. It was also in this area, where during the 16th century the major governmental organs were built. Soon the entire area was occupied with the Fortress, the Bishop’s Palace, the Seminary and the Jesuit College.
It was also here, where the leading local and foreign traders settled with their
