The Praça de Touros Monumental
The Praça de Touros Monumental is situated between the road to Mavalane Airport and the Mafalala neighbourhood, on Avenida Acordos de Lusaka, in the city of Maputo.
Made of reinforced concrete, it is a circular building (a ring), like most bullrings around the world. Its construction was an initiative of the Casa do Alentejo, with Dr José Albino Dias, Manuel Teixeira Alves and other associates at the head of the project, and it was inaugurated by General Craveiro Lopes, President of the Portuguese Republic, during a visit he made to Mozambique in 1956. It is one of eight bullrings in Africa, together with those of Tangier, Luanda, Melilla, Uchida, Villa Sanjurjo and Oran.
It hosted various events and bullfights in the past, and it is said there were plans to enlarge the building. It was here that the well-known Mozambican Ricardo Chibanga, the first black and African bullfighter in the world, developed as a child his passion for this sport. Later, known as ``El Africano``, he became a worldwide phenomenon, touring the great arenas and being acclaimed at Las Ventas (Madrid) and in Seville by thousands of fans, with Orson Welles, Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso in attendance.
The site is today very run down and completely occupied, with car repair workshops, clothes shops, food and drink stalls and much more flourishing in its numerous spaces. Its refurbishment is awaited.
The Praça Monumental operated until 1974, when it was closed. There were plans in 2008 to convert it into a venue for performing arts and sporting events, but it continued to deteriorate, and its numerous spaces are today completely occupied, with car repair workshops, clothes shops, food and drink stalls and much more flourishing in them. In 2020, it was officially visited by the Secretary of State for Sport of Mozambique, Gilberto Mendes, and the Councillor for Education and Sport of the City of Maputo, Edmundo Ribeiro, to see the conditions it was in, with its refurbishment still awaited.
