Video recorded on February 26, 2021. Weather: 17° C / 62.6 °F

The Church of St Martin is the main church in the Freguesia of São Martinho (Funchal), Madeira. Dedicated to St. Martin of Tours.

The old church at the bottom of the hill had become too small for the area and so construction started on July 8, 1883 on the current church of the same name, with the first stone being laid. Lack of founds halted construction until August 2, 1907, when the local parishioner José de Abreu died leaving almost all of his fortune, which for the time was large, to the continuation of the works of the same church.

The main festival that is celebrated is St Martin's day (Festa de São Martinho or Arraial de São Martinho in Portuguese) celebrated on the 10 and 11 November in the grounds of the church, where fires are made by locals and local food is made such as roasted chestnuts (Marking the beginning of the new chestnut harvest season), Espetada, Bolo do caco, and Bacalhau. The grapes that were harvested a few months before and made into wine, are first tasted on this day.

Although the construction of this beautiful church started in the 18th century, it took over 150 years to complete the work, and its size had to be adjusted to accommodate Funchal's growing population.

Inaugurated in 1918, its main attraction is a triptych with images of the Annunciation, Nativity and Santa Ana and São Joaquim.


During the island's early settlement, the area that includes the present parish was part of the much large Sé, and later São Pedro, when it was finally deannexed in 1597. The lands immediately around the commercial centre of Funchal were quickly acquired and put into service for cultivation of subsistence crops. As with the other settlements in the Portuguese Empire, these settlements eventually formed from communities of living in the shadow of small chapels that dotted the landscape. The same was true for São Martinho: a small artesanal business and chapel constituted the first buildings in this region, owned by Afonso Anes, who was responsible for guiding the influencing development, becoming a parish on 3 March 1579. Much later a new church was a formal church constructed, by the 19th century.

The establishment of an Administrative Code in 1878, defined the creation of a level of government below the municipality, giving rise to the civil parish system that coincided with the older ecclesiastical parishes. On 23 June 1916, by decree law 621, the parish of São Martinho was created.

The parish covers the southwestern part of Funchal, located three to four kilometres west of Funchal and approximately three kilometres east of Câmara de Lobos. It consists of the localities Ajuda, Amparo, Areeiro, Casa Branca, Igreja, Lombada, Nazaré, Pico de São Martinho, Pico do Funcho, Pilar, Piornais, Poço Barral, Quebradas, Vargem, Virtudes and Vitória.

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, 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.

The first settlers named their settlement Funchal after the abundant wild fennel that grew there. The name is formed from the Portuguese word for fennell, funcho, and the suffix -al, to denote "a plantation of fennel":
"...Funchal, to whom the captain gave this name, because it was founded in a beautiful forested valley, full of fennel up to the sea..." — Gaspar Frutuoso, 1873,


Music:
Lazy Walk - Cheel


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