Compiled: 2026-08-21 · Replaces the research report of Nov. 2024 · Status: draft
About this document. This is the source dossier behind the texts and the narration for this site. It was compiled in August 2026 with AI assistance under named editorial responsibility (see About Heritage Navigator), and it replaces an earlier, AI-generated research report from November 2024 that mixed sourced facts with unsourced and invented material. The dossier was written in Danish as the working document and translated into English for this page; Portuguese place names, quotations and source titles are kept in the original.
Every factual statement carries a source number [n], referring to the source list in section 6, and a confidence grade:
Legends and traditions are kept in their own section, with a source for the fact that the story is told, not for its truth. Claims that could not be verified, or that were rejected, are listed separately so that the reader can see what was left out and why. Quotations are reproduced only where the wording was seen in the source. Dead links are recorded as dead, with the date, rather than omitted; where a page exists only in the Internet Archive, the archive URL is given. Section 5 lists what would take an archive, the municipality, the museum or a historian to settle.
Municipal pumping station at Rua dos Pelames / Largo Gonçalo Velho, built on top of Tavira's oldest public spring, the Chafariz/Fonte da Praça, which is mentioned as early as the 13th century [1]. Engineer Manoel Alves da Costa's project (commissioned 1928, presented Dec. 1929) harnessed the spring's flow: two wells beneath the building, a Casa das Bombas with two motor-pump units and a reservoir, from which the water was forced up to the depot on Alto de Santa Maria — the present water tower with the Camera Obscura. The building dates from the early 1930s, and the whole supply works was completed in 1932 [1]. SIPA describes it as eclectic/proto-modernist in reinforced concrete with azulejo panels in the manner of Raul Lino's Casa Portuguesa [1]. In 1982 it was earmarked for demolition; instead it was converted into the Centro Interpretativo do Abastecimento de Água a Tavira, today a núcleo of the Museu Municipal de Tavira, with the two motors still standing in the machine hall [1][3][4]. Not listed and not in the DGPC register; the only inventory record is SIPA IPA.00016291 [1].
| Claim | Source | Grade |
|---|---|---|
| SIPA record IPA.00016291 "Estação Elevatória de Águas das Fontaínhas / Estação Elevatória de Águas da Fontinha / Centro Interpretativo do Abastecimento de Água a Tavira"; old IPA no. PT050814050055; author Paulo Fernandes 2002 | [1] | A |
| No DGPC classification (SIPA: "Protecção" empty); no Wikidata item (searched 2026-08-21) | [1] | A |
| Address: Rua dos Pelames / Rua Gonçalo Velho / Largo Gonçalo Velho; opposite the Capela de Nossa Senhora da Piedade, by the old Porta da Vila | [1][2] | A |
| DGPC on the chapel: it stands "defronte à antiga Fonte da Praça, hoje Estação Elevatória de Águas" | [2] | A |
| The complex consists of two buildings (Casa das Bombas and Reservatório) and three water installations (Fonte da Praça, tanque, bebedouro); the Fonte da Praça lies between the two buildings | [1] | A |
| The Chafariz da Praça is mentioned as early as the 13th century; it taps a water table that runs down the hill from Alto de Santa Maria past the Palácio da Galeria | [1] | A |
| The spring's functions through the centuries: drinking water, corn milling, tanning of hides and water for ships (Lopes 2001 via SIPA); the toponym "Pelames" points to tanneries (alcaçarias) by the spring, documented 1774 | [1] | A |
| 1726: "águas quentes da Fonte da Praça", four spouts; 1841: five spouts, a bathhouse with hot water by the spring (Silva Lopes 1841 via SIPA) | [1] | A |
| 1888/1892: the municipality registers and regulates the town's aguadeiros (water carriers), placed under the fire brigade in case of fire | [1] | A |
| 1913: Lei n.º 63 of 17-7-1913 lets the municipality tax the tuna fishery's armações and use the money for, among other things, "um mais eficaz sistema de abastecimento de águas" | [1] | A |
| 18-7-1917: decision to buy a "grupo motor-bomba" and build a depot "de cimento armado" by the Fonte da Praça for irrigating the gardens at Praça and Alagoa (Anica 2002 via SIPA) | [1] | A |
| 1926: the municipality commissions a project for water supply to the whole town; in the late 1920s the Governo Civil de Faro orders all municipalities to draw up supply plans | [1] | A |
| 1928: the project is entrusted to engineer Manoel Alves da Costa; presented December 1929 in four parts: harnessing of the Chafariz da Praça and its flow, a reservoir, a Casa das Bombas and the machinery — "reservatório de captação por baixo do edifício" | [1] | A |
| Early 1930s: construction of the Casa das Bombas and Reservatório; 1930 bank loan; 1932 "Conclusão da obra de abastecimento à cidade" | [1] | A |
| Two wells by the Fonte da Praça; the water is carried to the depot on Alto de Santa Maria; the two motor-pump units cost 29.400$00 and the depot 90.612$00 (Anica 2002 via SIPA) | [1] | A |
| The depot on Alto de Santa Maria: builder engineer Ricardo Teixeira Duarte 1932 "conforme lápide no local" | [1] | A |
| The water tower "inaugurado em 1931" (Postal) / "construída e inaugurada em 1931" (Camera Obscura Tavira) — differs from SIPA's 1932 | [12][13] | B/C |
| Relief inscription "CÂMARA MUNICIPAL" in a cartouche on the reservoir's east facade | [1] | A |
| Architecture: "Edifício que conjuga elementos ecléticos, proto-modernistas e característicos da Casa Portuguesa"; rectangular plan, "betão armado e cimento"; azulejo panels as decorative features in the manner of Raul Lino; frontispiece over the central bay of the main facade | [1][3][4] | A |
| Interior: Sala das Máquinas "integralmente ocupado por dois motores de captação de água e respectivas tubagens", south-east wall with white tiles; behind it the Sala de Serviços | [1] | A |
| 1934: "Regulamento para o Serviço de Água à Cidade", including an obligation for house owners to connect pipes; 1933-34 the municipality accuses the aguadeiros of "concorrência incompreensível e desleal"; 25-5-1934 tax on aguadeiros | [1] | A |
| 1935: the well is enlarged; 19-12-1935 complaints about poor tap-water quality, "provavelmente por infiltração de águas do rio"; 1939 still poor; May 1942 good again; 1942 the town is estimated at 11,000 inhabitants with abstraction below consumption | [1] | A |
| 1947: cases of typhoid in Tavira, contamination of several springs and wells; 10-1-1947 the municipality closes the old wells and springs | [1] | A |
| 1940s: the upper part of the reservoir and the wall around the Casa das Bombas are demolished | [1] | A |
| 1982: demolition of the Casa das Bombas envisaged in the Plano Integrado de Reabilitação e Revitalização do Centro Histórico, so that the Calçada de D. Ana would have the river as its backdrop | [1] | A |
| 1998: Tavira's network is connected to the Beliche and Odeleite dams; ETA de Tavira in operation "Julho de 1998" | [1][9] | A |
| The multi-municipal Algarve system / Águas do Algarve from 2000 (KSB); today 99 % of the municipality's water is supplied by Águas do Algarve, S.A. | [10][7][14] | C/A |
| 13-6-1999: municipal referendum on demolishing the water tower on Alto de Santa Maria — result in favour of preservation; Camera Obscura opened 24-6-2004 | [1][12][13] | A/B |
| 1999: first concept project for the station by architect José Lamas (semi-basement, lighting, glass door in the chapel, etc.); 2001 Projecto Museológico (Marco Lopes, CMT) | [1] | A |
| May-June 2002: "Obras de adaptação a centro interpretativo e remodelação da envolvência"; architects Cláudio Wanderley and Luís Nova | [1] | A |
| The museum and the tourist office: the centre "resulta da reabilitação em 2009 dos edifícios da antiga estação elevatória de águas" — differs from SIPA's 2002 | [3][4][5] | A |
| Purpose: to highlight the site's historical importance for the town's water supply and to interpret "o sistema da Fonte da Praça, composto pela estação elevatória e pelo depósito do Alto de Santa Maria" | [3][4][5] | A |
| Núcleo of the Museu Municipal de Tavira, "dedicado à história dos sistemas hidráulicos da cidade"; Rua dos Pelames; Tue.-Sat. 9.30-13/14-16.30 (Rota da Dieta Mediterrânica) | [15][5] | A/B |
| Municipal town walk "História da Água em Tavira" 21-5-2016 with historian João Tomás Rodrigues (Taviraverde), who researches the history of the town's water supply | [6] | B |
| Taviraverde event 16-10-2025 on the history of the water supply; Ignácio Pereda is preparing a collected work on the municipality's water heritage | [8] | A |
| Booker/AHA: the station lies at the Santa Maria spring (20 m above sea level) rather than Atalaia (19 m); "The station pumped to the water tower next to the Igreja Matriz from the early 1930s"; the exhibition shows washerwomen in the river in the 1970s | [11] | B |