Vila Algarve, Maputo
GPS: -25.973956, 32.59094
Vila Algarve is a residential house in the Mozambican capital Maputo. Built in 1934 and later protected as a listed building, the building housed the Portuguese secret police PIDE/DGS until the end of the Portuguese colonial period in Mozambique. It is located at the intersection of Avenida Mártires da Machava and Avenida Ahmed Sekou Touré.The building was erected in 1934 as a residence by Portuguese. Remarkable are the Azulejos, as a rare example of naturalistic decorated tiles from the time of the beginning of the twentieth century - alongside the Historicism architecture.
With the start of the colonial war in the then Portuguese colonies of Guinea, Angola and Mozambique, the Portuguese secret police PIDE extended their activities to the territories of the colonies. The PIDE confiscated the building and established its seat there.
During the colonial war many resistance fighters were tortured in this building. The Mozambican poet José Craveirinha tells of his experiences in the house in three of his works. Other known inmates were, among others, Rui Knopfli and Malangatana Ngwenya.
After the independence of Mozambique, the building remained empty due to its past; including the homeless. In 1999 the Mozambican Lawyers Association acquired the building and planned to set up its headquarters there.
The cost was estimated to be 400,000 euros. Later, the association withdrew from its plans and handed over the building to the Ministry of Culture. On behalf of the Ministry of Resistance, a "Museum of the Liberation of Mozambique" is to be set up there.
Since 2011 the building is in the pre-selection for a memorial list for Maputo. In the Portuguese Monuments Database Sistema de Informação para Património Arquitectónico, which also includes works of former Portuguese colonies, it is registered with the number 31730.
Vila Algarve is a residential house in the Mozambican capital Maputo. Built in 1934 and later protected as a listed building, the building housed the Portuguese secret police PIDE/DGS until the end of the Portuguese colonial period in Mozambique. It is located at the intersection of Avenida Martires da Machava and Avenida Ahmed Sekou Toure.
The building was erected in 1934 as a residence by Portuguese. Remarkable are the Azulejos, as a rare example of naturalistic decorated tiles from the time of the beginning of the twentieth century - alongside the Historicism architecture.
Mozambique’s decade-long struggle for independence from Portugal resulted in more than 50,000 civilian deaths. The European colonial power desperately struggled to hold on to a territory rich in natural gas, coal, gemstones, graphite and gold as well as the fourth largest coastline on the continent. As with many of the African wars for independence, Portugal went to extraordinary lengths to maintain its power for as long as possible, committing horrendous acts to attempt to suppress the revolutionary guerrilla movement - FRELIMO.
Some of the worst perpetrators of crimes against humanity during the war were PIDE - the Portuguese Secret Police. Within colonial Mozambique, they were headquartered in an ornate residential building near the center of the city named Vila Algarve.
The building served not only as an administrative post, but also the principal location where PIDE officers would torture and commit horrendous acts in attempts to gain confessions or other sensitive information on FRELIMOs independence activities from civilians.
Testimonies from survivors detail the depraved acts committed as the Portuguese struggled to maintain control over the Mozambican territory. The story of Vila Algarve shows the dark capacities of man to go to extraordinary lengths to dehumanize their fellow man in their attempt to maintain power and control.
Since independence in 1975, the building has sat vacant and gradually become dilapidated save the striking colors contained in the tin-glazed painted ceramic tile azulejos decorating the exterior.
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