Póvoa de Varzim Bullfighting Arena
| Póvoa de Varzim Bullfighting Arena | |
|---|---|
Póvoa de Varzim Bullring in Avenida Vasco da Gama. | |
Interactive map of the Póvoa de Varzim Bullfighting Arena area | |
| General information | |
| Status | Closed in 2019; Demolished in 2023 |
| Type | Bullring |
| Construction started | 1949 |
| Opened | 1949 |
| Other information | |
| Seating capacity | 5500 |
Póvoa de Varzim Bullfighting Arena (Portuguese: Monumental Praça de Touros da Póvoa de Varzim) was a bullring (Portuguese: Praça de Touros) in Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal. It was located on Avenida Vasco da Gama, on the northern waterfront of the city. Bullfighting, horse shows, and concerts are held in the arena.
The arena opened in 1949 and has a seating capacity of 6,097 regular seats and 150 chairs. Since 1984, it is a municipal venue owned by Varzim Lazer, a municipal company. It was built using functionalist architecture with a tendency to geometrical artistic expression.
Póvoa de Varzim Bullring had the most important bullfighting tradition in Northern Portugal, some of its Portuguese-style corridas were broadcast in national television and some of its events met with strong opposition from animal welfare activists, such as the Portuguese group Animal and PETA. The bullring included the Salvação Barreto Bullfighting Museum, paying homage to the creator and manager of the bullring and a mythical forcado or bull-grabber who participated in the 1951 epic Quo Vadis as a gladiator fighting a bull.
The Póvoa de Varzim Bullfighting Arena was demolished. The demolition started September, 2022, after a multi-year legal dispute involving a court injunction. It was replaced on the same site by the modern Póvoa Arena, a covered multi-purpose venue with a capacity of around 3,000 spectators, intended for concerts, exhibitions, conferences, sports events, catering and retail.
This transformation followed the municipality's decision to declare Póvoa de Varzim an anti-bullfighting city as of January 1, 2019, banning shows involving animal cruelty in all municipal venues. The mayor justified the decision by pointing to a significant drop in interest in bullfighting in northern Portugal — with attendance reportedly decreasing by around 50% between 2012 and 2019 — and growing social opposition to such practices.