The fortress at Sagres is a finalist in the competition to be considered one of the Seven Wonders of Portugal. According to Hélder Martins, the president of the Região de Turismo do Algarve (RTA), the regional tourist board, said that if this monument was chosen, the area could experience an influx of tourism and it would make up for the fact that past attempts to put forward the monument as a candidate for the seven wonders of the world failed.

Two years ago, the Portuguese commission of United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), dropped Sagres as a candidate following intense preparations of a candidacy dossier and an immense reconstruction project of the area as well as Cape St Vincent.

Martins criticised the government for allowing the historical monument to fall into disrepair and hopes that if it becomes one of the seven, more care and investment will ensure the monument is properly repaired and preserved.

He criticised the mismanagement of funds and especially the three euros per visitor that is paid to the Instituto Português do Património Arquitectónico (IPPAR), national institute of architectural heritage, who put none of this money back into repairing the monument.

Sagres is the most visited location in the Algarve and the third in the country, but despite this UNESCO in Portugal decided to null the town’s candidacy for global recognition on the basis that it believed it was better to incorporate the town to include Vila do Bispo, Aljezur and Odemmira as one territory for candidacy.

This was doomed from the beginning because all of the areas had to agree on every aspect of the candidacy proposal dossier.

Sagres is one of 21 candidates vying to be considered as one of the Seven Wonders of Portugal. The seven will be announced on July 7, 2007, in a ceremony to be held at the Estádio da Luz, in Lisbon.

The public will soon be able to cast their votes online, by telephone or text message.

For more information and for the full list of candidates, visit www.7maravilhas.pt.

source: the resident