Bu Country Tours

Cidade Velha

Ribeira Grande de Santiago, commonly called Cidade Velha is the first European settlement in the tropics. For centuries (15th to 18th centuries) it played a geostrategic role in transoceanic navigation, namely, in the supply of food supplies, in the repair of ships and in curing the sick.

It also functioned as a revolving plate in the triangular slave trade (Europe, Africa, America) that developed from the middle of the 16th century. On the other hand, the fertility of the soil and the abundance of water led to the settlement of colonists and slaves. As the social dynamic was organized, various military, religious, and civil infrastructures were built, condensed into a small urban agglomeration, and which today bear witness to the historical grandeur of Cidade Velha.

The Historic Site of Cidade Velha was classified in 2009 by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site (https://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/cv) under criteria II, III and VI.

Archaeological Charter of Cidade Velha

The Historic Site of Cidade Velha, classified as a World Heritage Site, due to its historical and patrimonial importance, still preserves vestiges that require preservation.

The archaeological chart is a georeferenced inventory of sites of archaeological and heritage interest, which is constantly being updated, and arises from this perspective to respond to the safeguarding and dynamic management of the remains. Thus, its main objective is the identification and gathering in a single support, of the remains within the great archaeological site that is Cidade Velha, thus highlighting its archaeological and heritage potential, aware of the importance of preserving the historical heritage as an instrument of memory preservation.

See the Archeological Chart and Storymaps of the archeological chart of Cidade Velha.

Top Attractions

Royal Fortress of São Felipe

The Royal Fort of São Filipe was built in 1587, in a dominant position about 120 meters above sea level, it was the first and most important fortification in the archipelago. It headed the defensive system of the city, composed of six more small forts scattered in various strategic points of the old city.

In architectural terms we can see that the royal fortress of São Filipe has a polygonal plan with a bastion design with two facades facing the campaign and two walled fronts with shooting parapets, facing the center of the city. It has a bastion in the center facing east and two half bastions with oriels at the opposite ends of the curtains. The other two sides of the quadrangle where the fortress is inscribed follow the course of the steep terrain.

Ribeira Grande de Santiago Cathedral Ruins

Largest religious building built in Cape Verde and in the entire African coast. Built around 1556, when the Episcopal palace was also built, currently without apparent traces. Its construction was completed around 1700, being practically destroyed (as known today), following the last major attack perpetrated by the French privateer, Jacques Cassard, in 1712.

Pelourinho

Built on the threshold of the 16th century, between 1512 and 1520, as a symbol of municipal power and royal justice. Located in the center of the city, it was the place where the acts of the City Council were publicly read, infractions were repressed and a privileged space for commercial exchanges, namely slaves and other products of the land.

Church of Our Lady of the Rosary

Built in the late 15th century (1495), it first housed a Manueline-style chapel, later expanded into the body of the church of Our Lady of the Rosary. It is one of the oldest religious buildings still standing, and a rare example of Gothic architecture in sub-Saharan Africa. It was part of one of the most important ecclesiastical brotherhoods that existed in Ribeira Grande de Santiago, the Brotherhood of Our Lady of the Rosary.

Ruins of Nossa Senhora da Conceição Church

The church of Nossa Senhora da Conceição, one of the oldest churches in Cape Verde, would have been built between 1466 and 1470, after the probable institution of small oratories, after the arrival of the first settlers in 1462, being the Infante D. Fernando responsible for its materialization. The church of N. ª S.ª da Conceição was the first to be built of stone and whitewash, and served as an oratory for the lordly inhabitants of the São Pedro district. It was preferred by the "morgados" in their pious donations.

Convent/Church of Saint Francis

Built around 1640, on a plot of land donated by Joana Coelho, a wealthy rural landowner, widow of Captain Fabião de Andrade. It was designed to accommodate the Franciscan religious who replaced the Jesuits in the mission in Cape Verde. It also functioned as a training center, where the priests taught various trades to the community. It was practically destroyed after the attack of the corsair Jacques Cassard in 1712 and a storm in 1754.

Banana Street

Rua da Banana is the oldest street built by the Portuguese in Sub-Saharan Africa and the tropics, the street consists of a set of simple single-plan houses built of stone and lime, with one door and two windows and roof of straw.

Parallel to this Rua Banana is Rua Carreira with identical construction typologies. In the sixteenth century there were 500 good residences of loss and whitewash in this city (according to an anonymous writing of the time).