Daily
Armamar, Carregal do Sal, Penedono and Santa Comba Dão have arteries named after the former dictator. Other figures from the Estado Novo are also present in the district’s toponymy
Fifty years after the 25th of April, the name of António de Oliveira Salazar is still ‘alive’ on some streets in the district of Viseu. In Santa Comba Dão, the dictator who was born in the town of Vimieiro gives his name to an avenue. In Armamar, the former president of the Council of Ministers stands out with another avenue, square and alley.
In the municipalities of Carregal do Sal and Penedono, there is a street named after Oliveira Salazar.
At a national level, the main figures of the old regime, 50 years after the end of the dictatorship in Portugal, remain present in at least 721 arteries in the country, in 195 municipalities, 17 of which are named after Salazar.
Among roads, avenues, streets, lanes, alleys, alleys, squares, squares, stairs, sidewalks, alleys, yards, squares, bridges and neighborhoods, hundreds of toponyms of protagonists of the Estado Novo remain in the public space, according to with the CTT database provided to the Lusa agency, although Humberto Delgado or Aristides de Sousa Mendes also remain as symbols of resistance in the dictatorship.
Surviving the initiative to erase the ideology and memories of 48 years of dictatorship, after the 25th of April 1974, at least 17 streets maintain the name of António de Oliveira Salazar, who governed between 1932 and 1968, first as Minister of Finance and then as president of the Council of Ministers (prime minister).
In addition to the Viseu district, Salazar also names two streets in Castelo Branco and Leiria. The dictator also ‘appears’ in Ansião (Leiria district), Cadaval (Lisbon), Odemira (Beja), Santo Tirso (Porto), Tomar (Santarém), Vila Flor (Bragança) and Vila Nova de Gaia (Porto), with one street each.
In Salazar’s seat was succeeded Marcelo Caetano, last prime minister of the Estado Novo, who surrendered in the Carmo Barracks in the “carnation revolution”, with 16 plaques, on four streets in Pombal, in different places or parishes, and an alley in Peniche, in the district of Leiria, two streets and square in Cadaval, avenue and square in Maia (Porto), square in Arganil (Coimbra), lane in Penalva do Castelo (Viseu), and streets in Rio Maior and Tomar (Santarém) and Cascais and Sintra (Lisbon).
The last President of the Republic of the Estado Novo, Américo Tomás, an admiral called “ribbon cutter” by the people, gives his name to the avenue in Covilhã (Castelo Branco), and streets in Celorico da Beira (Guarda), Ferreira do Zêzere (Santarém) , and Cadaval and Loures (Lisbon).
Marshal Francisco Craveiro Lopes, President of the Republic between 1951 and 1958, appears on 16 plaques on two streets in Loures and Odivelas (Lisbon), avenues in Vendas Novas (Évora), Cascais and Lisbon, and a street in Almeirim, Santarém, Bragança , Castelo Branco, Mirandela (Bragança), Peniche, Ponte de Sor (Portalegre), Santa Maria da Feira (Aveiro) and Vila Nova de Gaia.
General Óscar Carmona, head of State between 1926 and 1951, adds 41 toponymic references to avenues in Cascais (where there is also a street), Chaves (Vila Real), Santa Comba Dão, Tabuaço and Vila Flor, as well as streets in the districts from Aveiro, Beja, Bragança, Castelo Branco, Faro, Leiria, Lisbon, Porto, Santarém and Viseu.
Carmona also gives its name to squares in Alcanena and Entroncamento (Santarém), Castelo Branco and Felgueiras (Porto), to squares in Anadia (Aveiro), Fronteira (Portalegre), Leiria and Odivelas, and to a bridge in Vila Franca de Xira (Lisbon ).
Marshal Gomes da Costa, a monarchist who was President of the Republic in 1926, deposed by a coup led by Carmona, has 35 toponyms, and Carrazeda de Ansiães (Bragança) leads in number, with two streets and a lane, followed by Almeirim with two streets, or Nisa (Portalegre) and Portimão (Faro) with one street and one lane each.
The marshal’s name is also visible on avenues in Oeiras, Lisbon, Matosinhos, Vila Nova de Gaia and Porto, as well as on streets in Horta (Azores) and municipalities in the districts of Beja, Braga, Beja, Coimbra, Évora, Guarda, Leiria , Lisbon, Portalegre, Viseu, Santarém or Setúbal.
The writer and journalist António Ferro, promoter of the cultural policy of the Estado Novo, gives his name to the street and square in Cascais and to streets in Amadora, Matosinhos, Portalegre and Portimão, as well as a square in Oeiras.
At least 72 toponyms in the districts of Aveiro, Beja, Bragança, Castelo Branco, Coimbra, Évora, Faro, Leiria, Lisbon, Porto, Santarém, Setúbal, Viana do Castelo and Vila Real are named after Duarte Pacheco, an engineer who was minister of Public Works and responsible for projects such as Lisbon airport and the Salazar Bridge, renamed Ponte 25 de Abril, which connects Lisbon to Almada.
Former consul Aristides de Sousa Mendes, who granted visas to Jews fleeing the Nazi German army in the Second World War in spite of Salazar, records 63 place names in the districts of Aveiro, Beja, Braga and Bragança. Coimbra, Faro, Guarda, Leiria, Lisbon, Porto, Santarém, Setúbal, Viana do Castelo, Vila Real and Viseu.
Sousa Mendes was born in Cabanas de Viriato, in the municipality of Carregal do Sal, where an avenue named after him is located.
General Humberto Delgado, who tried to overthrow the Salazar regime through elections, has 448 toponyms, with emphasis on Sintra, with 17 signs on four avenues, nine streets, two squares and two lanes, in different places or parishes, followed by Loures, with 16, including 12 streets, two squares and a square. In Viseu, there is a square in the city center named after the opponent.
In addition to the toponymy, figures from the Estado Novo are also present in the statuary or on the Duarte Pacheco bridge and viaduct, in Penafiel and Lisbon, respectively.
