Buildings in Praia, the capital of Cabo Verde
About 600 km west of Dakar, the capital of Senegal, in the Atlantic Ocean, the islands there are Cabo Verde.
The islands were colonized by Portugal around the 15th century and became independent as Cabo Verde in 1975.
The islands to the north are named Barlavento Islands, and those to the south are named Sotavento Islands.
Praia, the capital, is located on Santiago Island in the Sotavento Islands.
Praia was originally founded by the Portuguese in 1615 as a town called Praia de Santa Maria. At that time, the most prosperous town was Ribeira Grande (now called Cidade Velha), about 15 km away, but it was gradually devastated by pirates, and in 1770 Praia became the center of Portuguese Cabo Verde.
(Cidade Velha was declared a World Heritage Site in 2009).
Some of the buildings built during the period when Praia was a Portuguese territory still remain today, so I made pop-up cards modeled on them.
There are two pop-up cards created for this time.
The first is the Dona Maria Pia Lighthouse, located on a promontory at the entrance to Praia Harbor.
It was built in 1881, so it is more than 140 years old, but it is an active lighthouse.
The second card is the Presidential Palace.
It was originally built as the Portuguese Governor’s residence during the colonial period.
After Cabo Verde became independent in 1975, it has been used as the presidential palace.
I wanted the central balcony to stick out from the wall, so I created the card by gluing separate parts.
To make it inconspicuous from the front, the support part is made of the same brown color as the cover.
You can download the pattern for the Dona Maria Pia Lighthouse this time. Please use it if you like.