Funchal is the largest city, the municipal seat and the capital of Portugal‘s Autonomous Region of Madeira, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The city has a population of 111,892,[1] making it the sixth largest city in Portugal, and has been the capital of Madeira for more than five centuries. Because of its high cultural and historical value, Funchal is one of Portugal’s main tourist attractions. It is also popular as a destination for New Year’s Eve, and it is the leading Portuguese port on cruise liner dockings
Tourism
Today Funchal is a major tourist town, with hotels, port, and an international airport Funchal Airport (FNC), located in the nearby municipality of Santa Cruz.
Besides the city of Funchal, tourist destinations include: Ribeira Brava, Curral das Freiras, Porto Moniz, Santana, the Laurisilva forest, a UNESCO Natural Site, in the center of Madeira Island and the beaches in Porto Santo island. There is also a passenger gondola lift (Funchal Cable Car), that transports people from the lower section of the city to the suburb of Monte and another that runs between Monte and the Botanical Gardens.
Museums
Funchal has many Museums, such as the:-
- Casa-Museu Frederico de Freitas
- Núcleo Museológico da Cidade do Açúcar
- Museu Barbeito
- Museu CR7
- Museu de Electricidade (Museum of Electricity)
- Museu de Arte Contemporânea do Funchal
- Sacred Art Museum of Funchal
- Museu de Fotografia – Vicentes
- Museu do Forte de S. Tiago
- Museu do Vinho da Madeira
- Museu Henrique e Francisco Franco
- Museu de História Natural do Funchal
- Museu Quinta das Cruzes
- Museu Sala de Troféus do Clube Sport Marítimo
- Núcleo Museológico do IVBAM
- Núcleo Museológico do Museu Militar Palácio São Lourenço
- Núcleo Museológico Mary Jane Wilson
Street art
Since 2011, the project “ArT of opEN doors project in Rua de Santa Maria” has been implemented in Funchal: The aims of the project is to “open” the city to artistic and cultural events. The project was born by the hand of many artists who were coordinated with the city council and decided to take it out on the streets of the Old Town, particularly in the Rua de Santa Maria.The doors of houses, abandoned shops, deteriorated areas received a new life, in order to sensitize people, towards the art and culture that fills these spaces.
Human geography
The urbanized core of the city of Funchal includes several of the civil parishes that surround the municipality, and includes a population of 150,000 inhabitants, the largest Portuguese city outside of mainland Portugal. The municipality itself is a grouping of several smaller administrative entities, that includes Funchal, Câmara de Lobos, Caniço and Santa Cruz, located along the southern coast of Madeira. Funchal is a cosmopolitan and panoramic city, with parks, shops and hotels.
The municipality are one administrative division, administered by an executive and legislative committee in the city hall. Local communities, are administered at the civil parish levels, through their own legislative bodies and executives. Funchal comprises ten civil parishes based on traditional religious districts:
- Imaculado Coração de Maria – a northern suburb, it is one of the smaller parishes in area, with the highest concentrations of residents (6951 residents in 2001);
- Monte – originally a summer refuge for the wealthy, due to its mild climate, Monte is symbolized by the toboggan drivers that race tourists down to the central town; today it is one of the more populated areas of Funchal with over 7500 inhabitants;
- Santa Luzia – one of the four urban suburbs of Funchal, developed from urban sprawl that expanded into the hinterland; today there are more than 6600 inhabitants in these foothills;
- Santa Maria Maior – named from the first episcopal divisions on the island, it along with Sé were the first faith communities to develop, concentrating along the coast in the church of Nossa Senhora do Calhau;
- Santo António – the most populated civil parish in the municipality, developed from the concentration of small artisan shops, that developed until the 16th century; today the population includes approximately 22,000 residents;
- São Gonçalo – named after the explorer Gonçalo Aires Ferreira, in service to João Gonçalos Zarco, the lands of the parish were once the personal domains of this settler, who later took on the anointed name by its residents, due to his piety;
- São Martinho – its first settler Afonso Anes was responsible for the first artisanal and commercial buildings in the area, that was primarily agricultural in scope; today the highly urbanized area pertains to 20,000 inhabitants and includes the hotel zone of Funchal known as Lido (named after the Lido Bathing Complex);
- São Pedro – central to the business and residential character of Funchal, São Pedro is a bedroom community of Sé, with 7681 residents;
- São Roque – deannexed from Sé under the authority of Cardinal Infante Henriques, the prelate of Funchal constructed this parish from sections of São Pedro and São Martinho;
- Sé – the historical centre of Funchal, and most developed, including many of the older buildings; its population is less than 2148 residents (2001).
