The city of Maputo<\/strong> was founded at the beginning of the 18th century, but originally it had a different name<\/strong>. As strange as it may seem, it was called Louren\u00e7o Marques<\/strong>, after the Portuguese trader who first explored its bay in 1544.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The construction of the railway line<\/strong> connecting it to Pretoria,<\/strong> South Africa<\/strong>, and the presence of the port<\/strong> were decisive in its development<\/strong>. As the population grew, Louren\u00e7o Marques established itself as the country\u2019s cultural<\/strong> and commercial centre<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It became the capital <\/strong>in 1907 when Mozambique was still a Portuguese colony<\/strong> and only dropped the original name in 1976 following independence<\/strong>. It was named Maputo<\/strong> after the river that crosses the southern region and flows into the city\u2019s bay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The civil war that marked Mozambique\u2019s history in the twenty years after independence also left deep traces in the capital. However, in recent years the city is recovering and is once again positioning itself on tourist itineraries. The credit goes mainly to its architectural richness<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maputo has managed to attract world-famous architects over the years. In particular, the central railway station, designed by architects Mario Veiga, Alfredo Lisbona<\/strong> de Lima<\/strong> and Jos\u00e9 Ferreira da Costa<\/strong> – although it\u2019s often wrongly attributed to Gustave Eiffel<\/strong> – and the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception<\/strong>, built to a design by Marcial Sim\u00f5es de Freitas<\/strong> e Costa,<\/strong> deserve a visit. Other notable buildings in the city are the Mozambique Museum of Natural History<\/strong>, in Manueline style<\/strong>, and the ancient<\/strong> Fortress of Our Lady of the Conception<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Maputo is the capital of Mozambique, its cultural and commercial centre, rich in history and charm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1708,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2036","attrazioni","type-attrazioni","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n