PARCHAL, IN the council of Lagoa, will soon be home to the first multipurpose event venue in the Algarve. The Pavilhão do Arade, which will boast an area of almost 9,000sqm, comprising of exhibition space, an auditorium and dining area, will provide the perfect venue for all kinds of events including concerts and shows, as well as fairs and congresses.
Investment in the Pavilhão do Arade project totals 10 million euros, 51.4 per cent of which will be derived from public funding (câmaras and tourism board) and the rest from private investors, including resorts, hotels, Albufeira Marina, supermarket chains and leisure facilities based in the Algarve.
The auditorium will offer a total capacity for 1,000 people, surpassing the new Faro Municipal Theatre, which offers a capacity for 800 people. Expectations are very high and parallels are already being made with Lisbon’s Luís de Camões Theatre in Parque das Nações, which many consider the best event venue in the country.
President of Região de Turismo do Algarve (RTA), the Algarve Tourism Board, Hélder Martins, believes the Pavilhão do Arade will be one of the most emblematic buildings in the Algarve and will prove fundamental for the development of tourism in the region. “When it is ready, the Algarve will have the potential to compete for major events,” he says.
The Pavilhão do Arade is being built alongside the River Arade, on the former site of a sardine-tinning factory operated by Marques Neves & Companhia Lda. The building was later converted to house the well-known nightclub, Sardinha Biba, in the nineties.
