BARGE FORTRESS
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Fortress turned municipal museum, the Museu Nacional Resistência e Libertade, with temporary exhibitions.
This fortress, built in the 15th century, is in the middle of a military defensive complex completed by the Fort de la Consolation and the Fort de São João Baptista de Belengas. In these dungeons of suffering, half-filled at high tide, many prisoners were held over the centuries. Nevertheless, the fort was not sufficient to defend this strategic point during the Peninsular War and the Napoleonic invasion of 1807, commanded by Junot. In 1836, the fort fell victim to a fire that completely destroyed the Governor's Palace and caused the fort's powder magazine to explode. In the early 20th century, it was used to house Boers returning from Mozambique after the British victory in South Africa. During the First World War, Germans were incarcerated here. Finally, it served as a high-security political prison during the Estado Novo of Salazar's fascist regime (1934-1974). It was from here that Alvaro Cunhal, General Secretary of the Communist Party at the time, made a spectacular escape, along with a dozen comrades. Cunhal left a series of drawings of his time in prison. During the Carnation Revolution on April 25, 1974, it was one of the revolutionaries' strategic points. It then served as a safe haven for terrorists from the former Portuguese overseas territories during decolonization. Today, it is a municipal museum, to be renovated in 2023-2024: Museu Nacional Resistência e Libertade, with regularly scheduled exhibitions.
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