Manuel de Arriaga Square, Monument to Norton de Matos and Administrative Buildings

Huambo [Nova Lisboa], Huambo, Angola

Equipment and Infrastructures

The radial point of the Roma Machado plan, put into practice (or improved) by the design of João Aguiar, this consists of a roundabout on which stood, until 1975 a monument to Norton de Matos, a huge isolated pillar flanked by figurative sculptures connecting the main administrative buildings (monument designed by the architect Lucínio Cruz and built after his death in 1955; following Independence, the statue was moved to the area of the Provincial Library and it was recently replaced by another of Agostinho Neto). Around the square stand the main public buildings: the Government Palace, to the north, is the former administrative centre, built in the 1940s and a good example of the compact pseudo-classical, neo-traditional Estado Novo style with a heavy arcaded façade with a central pediment and upper veranda between two projecting side structures (recently restored); on the other sides stand the Town Hall building, dating from the late 1960s; and the former Public Finances Office with columns, arcade surmounted in the spirit of Aguiar’s plans.

• Carlos Dias Coelho
• José Manuel Fernandes
• Maria da Conceição Neto