São João Baptista Fort Porto Moniz

About the São João Baptista do Porto Moniz Fort

Located in the picturesque parish of Porto Moniz, on the north coast of Madeira Island, the São João Baptista Fort is one of the most appreciated places by visitors to this region. Not only for its historical importance, but also because it is currently home to the Madeira Aquarium.

São João Baptista Fort is a replica of the old fortification, dating from 1730. In 1998 the Porto do Moniz City Council took the decision to collect the ruins of this defensive structure and two years later restoration work begun, with the aim of preserving what remained of the old outer walls and reusing the existing stone on this site to reconstruct the original 18th-century construction.

This fort was built with the intention of protecting the town of Porto de Moniz from the frequent attacks and looting carried out by pirates at the time. Today, however, the São João Baptista Fort plays a very different role.

This is where the Madeira Aquarium is located. It integrates 12 exhibition tanks, one of them with about 500,000 litres of salt water. Over 90 native species coexist here, representing the diversity of marine habitats of Madeira.