Portas de Benfica, Urban ensemble in Falagueira-Venda Nova, Portugal
Portas de Benfica consists of two former customs houses, one north and one south, at the end of Estrada de Benfica on the Lisbon–Amadora boundary. The south building houses the Orquestra Ligeira de Benfica and the São Tomé and Príncipe community association; the north building has held the Em Cada Rosto Igualdade information centre since 2001.
The Portas de Benfica are two former customs houses at the end of Estrada de Benfica, on the Lisbon–Amadora boundary. In the 19th century they were one of 26 entry points into Lisbon, and until 1892 a tax post there defined the city's fiscal district. They survived the uncontrolled settlement expansion around them but fell into decay; on 7 December 1996 the owner, the Ministry of Finance, began their renovation.
The two former toll cottages now house community uses: the São Tomé and Príncipe Community Association and the Orquestra Ligeira de Benfica occupy one building, while the other holds the Em Cada Rosto Igualdade information centre, run since 2001 by the Benfica parish council. The name Portas, gates, recalls the fiscal post that stood here until 1892.
The two former toll houses stand at the end of Estrada de Benfica, on the Lisbon side of the boundary with Amadora. Buses from Carris and Carris Metropolitana stop here, linking central Lisbon with Oeiras, Amadora and Sintra. There is no train station at the site.
The two small buildings are former toll booths that marked Lisbon's fiscal boundary until 1892, separating Benfica Intramuros in Lisbon from Benfica Extramuros in Oeiras, now Amadora. They are among the few structures that survived the area's uncontrolled urbanisation.
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