See the photographs by Hélder Santos/Aspress and videos by several DIÁRIO journalists
The New Year was welcomed with great enthusiasm by thousands of Madeirans and visitors who watched one of the most spectacular fireworks displays in the world up close.
From the 27 launch points strategically distributed throughout the Funchal amphitheatre and the 25 placed on the seafront, a spectacle of light, colour and sound was unleashed, yet another one that caused great joy.
The apotheotic ending was memorable. Here you can see three different angles of this thunderous minute.
Other moments of color and light were captured on this magical night.
It lasted 8 minutes and served to detonate 20 tons of explosives in 97 thousand shots.
In addition to the thousands of Madeirans and tourists who watched the fireworks on land, there were 11 cruise ships in the port and bay of Funchal tonight, carrying a total of 27,000 people, approximately 19,000 passengers and eight thousand crew members.
According to official data, hotel occupancy in the region during this period is around 100% and estimates indicate a floating population on land of 90 thousand people.
The fireworks display in Funchal is one of the highlights of the seasonal festivities in Madeira, but the program organized by the Regional Government (PSD) started on December 1st and includes a set of initiatives that will liven up the center of the Madeiran capital until January 7th, with an investment of 4.1 million euros.
The amount includes entertainment and logistics, support for the entities involved, New Year’s Eve fireworks (1.3 million euros), as well as Christmas lights for 2024 and Carnival 2025, as this is a joint public tender.
After the fireworks, the entertainment that marks the arrival of the new year carried on in various parts of Funchal and throughout the autonomous region, on a mild night with a starry sky.