Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Palácio de Anchieta and around
Praça João Clímaco • Tues-Fri 9am-6pm, Sat & Sun 9am-5pm; tours every 20-30min • Free •
T
27 3321 3578,
W
palacioanchieta.es.gov.br
The grandest historic building in Vitória is the of
ce and home of the state governor,
the
Palácio de Anchieta
, most of which was constructed from 1910 to 1912 in an
elegant Neoclassical style over far older buildings. A Jesuit church and school was
founded here in the 1550s and later expanded by
Padre Anchieta
, a seminal religious
figure in Brazil who died in Vitória in 1597. His o
cial
tomb
(built in 1922) lies
inside the palace where the altar of the church once stood (with wall mural and old
foundations under glass), though the poor priest's body is no longer here (see box
below). The main corridor leading to the tomb has displays showing how the building
changed after the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1759, while the adjacent exhibition room
hosts temporary art shows with local themes. To see the rest of the palace you must
join a
guided tour
- to get an English-speaking guide you'll need to call in advance.
Note that tours only include the governor's lavish living quarters on the second floor
at the weekends.
he ornate
Palácio Domingos Martins
on the other side of the plaza is the former
legislative assembly and the latest building to be restored in the centre.
2
Igreja de São Gonçalo and around
Rua São Gonçalo • Tues-Sun 9am-5pm • Free •
T
27 3233 2856
Completed in 1766 by slaves and free Afro-Brazilians, the
Igreja de São Gonçalo
is a Baroque beauty with a spacious, simple interior and good views of the whole,
faded downtown area. Look for the two rare seventeenth-century statues of saints
(and Jesuit missionaries) Loyola and Xavier inside. Nearby, it's worth a look at
the
Convento de São Francisco
which was founded in the sixteenth century,
though the only historical part that survives is the brilliant white Baroque facade,
completed 1744-84.
Capela de Santa Luzia
Rua José Marcelino • Tues-Sun 9am-5pm • Free •
T
27 3222 3219
The oldest building in the city is the humble
Capela de Santa Luzia
, built between 1537
and 1540 as the private church of the island's first colonist, Duarte Lemos. What you
see today mostly dates from the eighteenth century - abandoned in 1928, the chapel
was a ruin until restoration work in the 1940s. The simple whitewashed chapel with its
rustic, wooden Baroque altar would not be out of place in a Portuguese village, a vivid
reminder that the coast of Espírito Santo was one of the first parts of Brazil Europeans
settled. Opposite lies the old
Masonic Lodge
, completed in 1913 and a wedge of
Neoclassical blue between the concrete.
FIRST FATHER: PADRE ANCHIETA
Padre Anchieta
, the first of a series of great Jesuit missionaries from Spain and Portugal to
Brazil, is most famous for being one of the two founders of São Paulo, building the rough
chapel the town formed around in the sixteenth century and giving his name to one of the
city's main avenues, the Via Anchieta. He was a stout defender of the rights of indigenous
peoples, doing all he could to protect them from the ravages of the Portuguese and pleading
their case several times to the Portuguese Crown; he was also the first to compile a grammar
and dictionary of the Tupi language. Driven out of São Paulo by enraged Portuguese settlers,
he retired to Vitória, died in 1597 and was finally canonized. His body, however, only remained
here for some fifteen years; in a story that would confuse Tolstoy with its complexity, Anchieta's
bones were broken up and sent to various Brazilian cities to act as holy relics (a fragment is
supposed to remain here, and also in the city of Anchieta).
