Fort of Trafaria

In 1725, works were carried out to rebuild the chapel and the main buildings of the hospital and in 1743 a wall was added to prevent the general population from accessing the chapel during times when there were patients held in quarantine. The area was extensively damaged by the 1755 Lisbon earthquake and restoration was only completed in 1786. The role as a quarantine hospital ended in the early 1800s, when the fort was vacated. Repair works were carried out during the Portuguese Civil War (1828-1834). The fort was used as a military prison until the end of the conflict, after which it was deactivated again. Later, it was occupied by the Algarve Fisheries Company for the production of fish guano, until this activity was stopped for public health reasons. After being re-occupied by the State, it served as a nursery for the national forests and as a shelter for the royal galleys.^[1][2]

On 17 April 1901, the Fort of Trafaria was the site of the first wireless connection in the country, receiving a message from a transmitting station installed at the Fort of Alto do Duque, on the opposite bank of the Tagus River, a distance of 4,300 meters.^[3][4]

Between 1908 and 1910 it underwent work to adapt its facilities to a military prison and was subsequently used by the Portuguese Navy. The restoration of its chapel dates from this period. However, by 1917 it had, once again, been abandoned. Briefly being used as a private dwelling, it again became a military prison, first for the Navy, then for the Army. Once again in a state of degradation in the second half of the 1990s, the Fort of Trafaria was acquired by the municipality of Almada in 2000. In September 2020 it was announced that it would be rehabilitated at a cost of 7.6 million Euros, to become the site of the Institute of Art and Technology of the NOVA University Lisbon.^[1][2][5]