On January 9, 1824, Francisco de Almeida Coelho de Bívar was born in Vila Nova de Portimão.
He was the son of Juiz de Fora de Lagoa, bachelor José Lino de Bívar Weinholtz de Almeida Coelho and his wife and cousin Maria Feliciana de Bívar Gomes da Costa, a distinguished and wealthy family, with ascendant branches in Holstein (Germany), Monchique and also in Guimarães (Prazins).
The liberal ideas that the family defended motivated the murder of his father by a guerrilla supporter of Remexido (José de Oliveira – the Trovoada), during the fateful Civil War, in 1833.
Graduated in Law from the University of Coimbra in 1845, Francisco Bívar soon became interested in politics, joining the Regenerator Party.
At the age of 29, he was elected deputy for Lagos, a position he held for three legislatures (1853 to 1858), and in 1860 he was elected by Portimão, serving four more legislatures (1860 to 1868).
Its action in the Chamber of Deputies, now the Assembly of the Republic, was multifaceted, although it focused primarily on the problems of the Algarve and the Algarve. From the problem of taxes on fish, to the poor conditions of the Algarve ports, the wharf in Portimão, the reorganization and creation of districts (among these that of Portimão in 1875) or the navigability of the Arade to Silves, without forgetting the means of communication , like the construction of roads or the extension of the railway from Beja to the Algarve, Francisco Bívar was incessant in defending the interests of his fellow countrymen.
His intervention in the Chamber of Deputies during the discussion of the route of the railway to be adopted between Beja and the Algarve was, together with other deputies from the Algarve, decisive for it to go to Messines, instead of ending up in Mértola to restart later in Vila Real de S. António to the Algarve capital, taking the intermediate route by boat.
If in reality this last route was economically very advantageous due to its proximity to the Minas de São Domingos, it was no less true that it did not serve the Algarve properly.
Francisco Bívar's action was also fundamental with regard to the layout of the Algarve coastal road (Royal Road no. 78, today EN 125), specifically where the new crossing over Arade should appear, with Silves and Portimão being in dispute.
In favor of Silves there was the argument of economy, due to the short length of the bridge to be built, and therefore less expensive for the Nation's treasury.
Portimão, however, did not want to be left out of the development that the road and the bridge would provide, so deputy Francisco Bívar presented in the courts a project with several premises, among which, that the bridge be built in the then Vila Nova without charges for the State (exclusively at the expense of a tax on fish sold at auction).
The City Council of Silves, in view of this proposal, met on June 9, 1858, together with the former councilor and with twelve of the city's “main citizens”, summoned for this purpose, who “unanimously agreed: That they will disapprove of the opinion or the idea of building the bridge over the river of Portimão (…) because with it you will become numb, or intensely interrupt navigation with Silves”.
They also disapproved of the construction of a stretch of road from Portimão to Lagoa, arguing that this route should take into account the coastal road from Lagos to Faro, and that obviously the Silvenses intended it to pass through Silves.
But everything was in vain, the government, with its coffers depleted, as always happens, approved the project of the illustrious Portimo, which is highly advantageous for the treasury.
Francisco Bívar thus brilliantly managed to have the bridge designed and later built in Portimão (and by the State, as the revenue collected by the tax turned out to be too low).
A member of the organizing committee of the celebrations for the inauguration of that infrastructure, together with other distinguished countrymen, the Portimão bridge was at the time the largest in the south of the Tagus, measuring 311 meters in length and 6 meters in width.
At the first stone throwing party, on June 28, 1874, the two Silvese philharmonics, Nappies and Moleiros, took part, as João Suave recalled, in November 1924, in the Silvense periodical “Voz do Sul”: “Both were invited to drink part of the celebrations for the inauguration, in 1874, of the construction of the bridge over the river Arade, in Portimão, with the assistance of one of the best statesmen that Portugal has had in its political gallery, Fontes de Pereira de Melo, then minister”.
The visit of the Minister of Public Works and also Prime Minister to the Algarve and his participation in the celebrations for the start of construction of the bridge (it was completed in July 1876) was not unrelated to the personal friendship he shared with Francisco de Almeida Bívar, then already Viscount of Bívar.
It was on the 7th of March 1872, that King Luís I “taking into account the merits and circumstances that compete for the Bachelor […] Francisco d'Almeida Coelho Bívar, former Deputy of the Portuguese Nation and wishing to give him a public testimony of the My Real Consideration: I would like to do you the favor of the title of Viscount of Bívar in your life”.
But the political journey of the now Viscount was far from over. By Royal Letter of May 16, 1874, he was elevated to Counselor of the King and Par of the Kingdom.
Once again, the interests of the Algarve deserved his attention, asking for, for example, the continuation of the railway from Faro Vila Real de Santo António, or even assistance to the Algarve during the terrible drought of 1875, as it had already done with the floods of 1856.
His action in the new position was felt in several committees (Agriculture, Public Works, Finance, Verification of Powers, etc.) and with them his participation in many opinions.
Married to D. Isabel Margarida de Mendonça Pessanha, the couple lived at the Sapal Palace in Portimão (where the Town Hall is currently located). Owner of a vast fortune, Francisco Bívar was in 1874 the 4th largest taxpayer in Portimão (188$501 tenth réis) and he owned the most famous and extensive salt pans in Alvor.
He also held the positions of Attorney to the General Board of the District of Faro by Portimão, and was Judge and Counselor of the Court of Auditors.
Francisco de Almeida Coelho de Bívar, the Viscount of Bívar, died in Lisbon on 2 January 1890.
But his Vila Nova de Portimão has not forgotten him, giving his name to the town's main square and in which, in November 1942, a bust in his honor was unveiled.
121 years after its disappearance, its action in favor of the Algarve and Portimão is still alive, whether by the old bridge or by the city's quay, whether by the roads built around the Algarve, or by the railway, a vehicle of progress and wealth for which he strove very much.
What a lack of deputies of the character of Francisco Coelho de Bívar are lacking in our days!
Aurélio Nuno Cabrita he is an Environmental Engineer and a Local and Regional History researcher
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