City
Dili’s seafront: a harbour lighthouse, the Motael church and the Infantry Barracks
A fire on 24 August 1866 destroyed a large part of Dili, and the three seafront buildings described here came afterwards: the Infantry Barracks, a harbour lighthouse begun in 1889 and the Motael church, begun in 1901. Isabel Boavida’s 2011 University of Coimbra thesis notes that the town’s houses then mostly had palapa walls (leaf stalks of a wild palm) and grass roofs, which worsened the damage, and that the rebuilding imposed tiled roofs.
At a glance
A place worth remembering
Farol do Porto: the harbour lighthouse on the western shore
Isabel Boavida’s entry on the HPIP heritage portal dates the start of work on Dili’s harbour lighthouse to 1889: the old 7 m structure was close to ruin and its light was mistaken for the town’s lighting, so a replacement was built. The same entry puts the new light about 18 m above sea level; today it is a metal skeleton on a circular masonry base. Geoffrey Gunn notes that a map of 1870 showed a lighthouse on one side of the anchorage and the Carqueto fort on the other. Russ Rowlett’s Lighthouse Directory places the light on the beach on Dili’s western side, describes a stairway spiralling round a central column and gives its signal as a white flash every 6 seconds.[1][5][6]
Santo António de Motael: a church built in stages on Avenida Marginal
The church of Santo António de Motael stands on Avenida Marginal, close to the lighthouse. Boavida’s HPIP entry says building began in 1901 to replace an earlier church, very probably made of less durable materials. Funding for public works fell short, and work was interrupted repeatedly, at one point for several years; the church is reported to have been complete by 1937, a plain masonry block with pointed-arch doors and windows. After it had fallen into ruin, a mid-20th-century campaign rebuilt it, lengthening the nave and adding a projecting portico and the bell tower. Her 2011 thesis records work on the church continuing in 1955.[2][4]
Quartel de Infantaria: barracks left open to the sea
Gunn writes that, according to reports reaching Macau in October 1866, the fire consumed the military barracks, the church and 15 private properties, mostly built of palapa; work on new barracks was still under way in 1871. Boavida’s thesis, following Francisco Sousa Lobo, places the surviving Infantry Barracks on the site of the former Fortaleza de Nossa Senhora da Conceição; the sources do not agree on when that building went up. The HPIP entry by Edmundo Alves and Fernando Bagulho describes single-storey wings forming a U whose north side is left open towards the sea and the island of Atauro: a coral reef offshore, too shallow for ships, gave the site natural protection.[5][4][3]
Good to know
A few clear answers before you explore.
Why was a new harbour lighthouse built in Dili?
Boavida’s HPIP entry says the old 7 m structure was close to ruin and its light was mistaken for the town’s lighting. Work on the replacement began in 1889.[1]
When were the Motael church’s portico and bell tower added?
In a mid-20th-century rebuilding that also lengthened the church, according to the HPIP entry. The church itself was begun in 1901 and is reported to have been complete by 1937.[2]
Why is the Infantry Barracks open on its seaward side?
The HPIP entry explains that a coral reef offshore was too shallow for ships, giving the site natural protection, so the north side of the U-shaped complex could stay open to the sea.[3]
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