Santa Luzia's Public Gardens

A ‘green lung’ in the city centre!

In recent years Funchal’s governmental entities have put a lot of emphasis on the creation of more green spaces and pedestrian areas in the city. Located up the street Rua 31 de Janeiro in the eastern part of the town, the Santa Luzia Public Gardens, inaugurated in 2004, were created on the ground of the abandoned Hinton sugar and liquor factory, one of the most important historical sites of the city. Of the old factory only the chimney remained for posterity to remind of this site’s influential role in Madeira’s sugar industry past.

Some 17.000 sq. metres of green areas, taken care of by Funchal’s Municipal Council, include five different theme gardens (Amphitheatre Garden, Tropical Garden, Water Garden, Terraced Garden – inspired by Madeira’s terraced fields – and Laurissilva Garden) as well as a waterfall, a bridge, a bar with esplanade, a children’s playground and the remains of an old sugar production machine.

In 2005, this space received an honorable mention under the National Prize for Landscape Architecture, in the category of Outdoor Spaces of Public Use.