“It is with great satisfaction that today the windmills of Portela will return to their origins,” said Nuno Batista, Mayor of Porto Santo, in what has been a “total restoration of a vitally important heritage legacy site.”
The renovation and restoration of the three windmills took approximately six months to complete and was done to highlight Porto Santo’s links with the past, its heritage, and sociocultural legacy, an integral part of the memory of a people, in which these windmills are considered symbols of a subsistence economy, which lasted for centuries.
For Nuno Batista “this is a commitment made to the population in the safeguarding of our heritage and although it was not possible to restore them on site, today they return to their place of origin, in complete working order.”
The windmills are made of wood and rotate on a stone pedestal. The upper part is composed of an octagonal wooden frame structure, with the mast oriented to the north, based on a base of stone masonry with joints filled with mortar, whose construction period dates to the nineteenth century.
Until 1960 there were approximately 30 windmills in Porto Santo, although records do not actually state their functions.
The restoration work has been completed within the scope of the CompromissoMadeira@2020 operation and cost in the region of €200,000.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
