About Almada

Almada is a Portuguese municipality in the Setúbal District. It is an industrial and commercial center on the left bank of the River Tagus estuary, opposite Lisbon, to which it is connected by the 25 de Abril Bridge. The population in 2011 was 174,068, in an area of 70.40 km². The urbanized area of Almada includes all the municipalities of the so-called Baixa da Banheira (literally: "Lower Baths") subregion, including Caparica, Trafaria and Pragal. These municipalities are connected to Lisbon by the Alfama River Bus, which runs along the Tagus river estuary. Almada is also crossed by the Lisbon Metro on two different lines: on Line 1 they are Moscavide (in Lisbon) and Algés (in Oeiras); on Line 12 they are Cacilhas (in Almada) and Cais do Ginjal (in Lisbon). The history of Almada begins with the settlement of the Capuchin monks beside the Chapel of São Miguel de Alcáçova, in 1577. During the seventeenth century, the area occupied by the monks expanded to shelter numerous farmers from the constraints imposed by the Crown to the land. By upgrading the chapel to the status of parish, in 1614, and later, by acquiring the hermitage and farms of Quinta do Carmo, in 1643, the monks managed to accumulate a large amount of land. The possessions of the monks, passed to the administration of the municipal government in 1834, after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, were subsequently auctioned off, in 1836. The municipality was created in 1836, under the Liberal regime, with the merger of the parishes of São Miguel de Alcáçova and Santa Maria de Jesus. At that time, Almada counted 27,290 inhabitants.[3] Lisbon's growth and the industrialization of Setúbal were major factors that led to the integration of Almada into the metropolitan area. The transference of the customhouse from Cacilhas to Sacavém in 1887 facilitated the establishment of industries in the area.[4] The Parque Industrial de Lisboa (Lisbon Industrial Park), one of the largest industrial parks in Europe, with an area of 3,345,907 m2 (35,993,720 sq ft), was inaugurated in Almada in 1955. Cais do Ginjal, in the parish of Cacilhas, was one of the most important industrial complex of Portugal until the late 1970s, with a large shipyard, a sugar refinery and other factories. The area began to decline in the 1980s, with the closing of the sugar refinery and the shipyard, and remains mostly abandoned since then. The Almada coastline was popularized by writers such as Eça de Queirós and Fernando Pessoa, who frequently visited the place. In the summer of 1959, the French director Roger Vadim came to the area to shoot the film Les Liaisons Dangereuses, adapted from the novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. Nowadays, Almada is a lively and cosmopolitan municipality, with a strong industrial and commercial base and a growing tourist industry. The city is home to many cultural facilities and events, including the Almada International Comics Festival and the Almada Dance Festival.