Lagos council finally has accepted that the Fort de São Roque, at Meia Praia, is managed by the State which is opening bids to private enterprise to fix up and run the building as a tourist related business.
Lagos councillors have agreed that the government’s ‘Revive’ programme is the best way forward and voted unanimously at the last council meeting of the year to stop any opposition and claim that the fort should be managed by the council.
The council justified its decision on "the high recovery costs to be borne and, at a future stage, by the future difficulties of managing the space."
The building has been allowed to deteriorate for decades, to the point of dereliction and the council says this precludes its current use for any type of municipal use.
The council decided that it has enough to cope with in fixing up and maintaining the historic buildings of which it is in charge.
The council owns "a considerable historical-architectural heritage, namely the municipal museum and the city walls and towers, which need rehabilitation or rebuilding which, despite their integration into Projects like CRESC2020, have lacked any economic reason for the council to invest in them."
The conclusion, simply, is that the council does not have enough money to restore the old fort. This does not stop the council from insisting that the government, "to safeguard the recovery and restoration of the property,” after choosing a private company to take over the fort for commercial development
The council also requires that the building is not extended, that any landscaping is suitable for the area, that the necessary infrastructure is not obtrusive and that all work done will have minimal impact on the building.
History:
The Forte de São Roque lies strategically in the centre of the bay of Lagos and was one of the coastal defences. The 840m2 fort was built between 1671 and 1675 in the face of constant attack from pirates in their swift corsairs keen to plunder and to nab locals to be sold as slaves.
The Forte is one of the earliest along the Algarve's coastline. There remain 44 forts and ex-forts from Alcoutim in the east to Arrifana in the west.
The structure was ruined in the 1755 earthquake and was rebuilt from 1796 in the face of the threat from France. By 1822 the fort was listed as 'completamente vazio e destruido’ (completely abandoned and destroyed.)
Throughout the twentieth century there were several attempts to rescue the building from ruin and to develop its tourist potential. These efforts were not helped by a total lack of interest from the government.
In 2007, Lagos council asked the Ministry of Defence to transfer the fort to municipal management with the aim of the council carrying out improvement works and to put the building to some use. This request was made due to the advanced state of neglect and degradation of the monument.
The fort was used as a customs post until the municipality came forward with a number of ideas for possible uses of the building such as installing a maritime museum, a summer camp or an eco-activity centre but of course nothing happened and in 2009 the Ministry of Culture included the Forte da Meia Praia in a list of monuments that needed urgent intervention work.
The classification of the Forte de São Roque went through a long process of public hearings and technical advice and accorded with the criteria to qualify it for a building of cultural heritage including aesthetic value, architectural design, its landscape, and the fact that it is known and recognised as an important structure.
However, the fort’s inclusion on the Revive ‘for sale’ list means all of the work that has been undertaken to preserve the fort as a public monument has been a waste of effort.
The first 30 Revive buildings on the government list can be viewed at:
