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Angra do Heroísmo
The most historic and most attractive capital of the Azores Islands, Angra do Heroísmo, which in 1534 was the first settlement on the archipelago to be granted the town status, boasts a historic centre that has been declared UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site in 1983. Precisely on the 1st of January 1980, a short (23 seconds) but disastrous earthquake devastated about 80 % of the town, but the inhabitants did not surrender to discouragement and within ten years reconstructed or restored most of the old centre according to original plans. The result of this initiative is that the town represents today a perfect example of 17th- and 18th-century Spanish Renaissance architecture, witnessed by its many churches, castles, palaces and manor houses and the typical linear-square layout of its streets.
Two castles, the São João Baptista and the São Sebastião, frame Angra’s almost circular bay, with the old harbour, Porto das Pipas, flanking its eastern end and a new marina, which was opened in 2004 and has capacities for 270 boats, marking its centre. On the south-western end of the large bay, below the ramparts of São João Baptista castle, lies the picturesquely located Clube Nautico, Angra’s yacht club. The two castles are linked by a pleasant promenade.
Today, Angra is a big commercial and shopping centre where one of the three seats of the Azores government, the Azores bishopric and the agricultural faculty of the Azores University is located, but it is also a cultural centre, boasting several philharmonic orchestras, numerous theatre companies, the Cultural Centre of the Azores and the Institute of History.
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