Old town in Funchal

This is where the city was born. It was here, five hundred years ago, that the first inhabitants of Madeira gave their first steps in the island, and here is where the pioneers of Europe’s expansion lived.

This is where they were born, and this is where they died. Here is where the roots of being Madeiran were created.

And if the neighbourhood changed, with the passing of times – it was inevitable, as five hundred years went by… – the truth is that this area maintains a unique feeling, still irreplaceable in the understanding of the city.

Rua de Santa Maria is probably the oldest thoroughfareof the city. The church of Nossa Senhora do Calhau, the first church built in the first european city built overseas does no longer exist, but one can still picture it, there, where the old road meets the river, right next to the market.

A market that is already parto f another Funchal, a new Funchal created by Fernão de Ornelas, in a very distant middle of the 20th century, so distant that it is difficult to realize the vision of this urban planner.

A market to which new equipments were added: museums, centres for the interpretation of urban and insular history, as well as new leisure areas for a population increasingly demanding of such structures.

The market already generated interest in a considerable number of people. To this one added the cable car, the privileged connection to Monte, and all the people seeking the charm of the old town.

An old town which is, without loosing its character, increasingly less “old”, showing every day that it is capable of accompanying the pace and the challenges of the people who pass it, and who live there. Whether they live there their all lives, a part of their lives, or just passing by. A passage that, one hopes, will always be pleasant. Nad which always leaves reasons for one to return, one day. A return that will allow us to see what remained like it was, and what changed.

Because, after all, it is necessary that some things change for everything to remain the same.

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