THE MOÇÂMEDES CINE THEATER

For which the monuments to the founding colonists were reserved, this is the Cine Teatro de Moçâmedes, the popular "Cinema do Eurico", equipped with an architectural design considered revolutionary for the time, ART DECO, this wonder that was a decisive springboard for architecture modernist, emerged in the first decades of the 20th century in Europe, which spread throughout the Western world, and reached the lands of Namibe.
With a continuous and uniform rectangular plan, ART DECO, initially marked by some refinement, became simpler, and with the passage of time, and the influence of cubism, it even became the favorite in the world of Cine Theaters.

The Cine Teatro de Moçâmedes covers 2500m2 of area, 25x50m, and a body in well-defined geometric volumes, horizontal, vertical, rounded, zigzagging, with materials such as glass, iron, which stands out in the exterior aesthetics, while in the room The interior assumes generous proportions between the audience and the balcony, with access to the balcony via a side staircase with equally Déco details.
It was opened in the 1940s, after the Second World War (1939-45), and came fill a gap opened with the demolition of the primitive Teatro Garrett, the beautiful concert hall that we will talk about later, owned by Raúl de Sousa, located on Rua Calheiros, where the people of Mozambique saw the first plays and revues and the first films, most of which were still in silent cinema.

The owners of Cine Teatro de Moçâmedes were Eurico Martins, António Pedro Bauleth, Gaspar Gonçalo Madeira and António do Nascimento Marques.
With the demolition of the Garrett Theater to make way for the headquarters building of Atlético Clube de Moçâmedes, on Rua Calheiros, the city was temporarily left without a concert hall, until the Cine Teatro de Moçâmedes appeared, and in the meantime it was on the building's small stage -headquarters of the Recreational and Charitable Club, the popular Ferrovia, located on Rua Serpa Pinto, without great accommodation conditions, which under the operation of the same Raúl de Sousa, film sessions and theater plays took place, without ever reaching the large audience that it had The idea that only Ferrovia members could visit that space was ingrained.

The emergence of the Cine Teatro de Moçâmedes filled a gap that was felt within a population that was clamoring for a place where they could watch the most diverse cultural and artistic events, local and foreign theater plays, variety acts, exhibitions of films, etc., in conditions of accommodation and modernity, despite this being a post-war time, of economic and financial downturn, of rationing, vouchers for purchasing food, etc. etc. To give you an idea of what the engine room was like at that time, where Eurico Martins lost an arm, I just posted the photo immediately above.