Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
venues for high-quality travelling art shows, the
Santander Cultural
and
Caixa Cultural
.
Both occupy gorgeously renovated buildings (the British-dominated old River Plate Bank
and the 1912 Banco de Londres respectively). On the other side of the plaza lies the
Centro
do Artesanato
(see p.274), with views across the river to the totem-like 32m-high Torre de
Cristal in the
Parque de Esculturas Francisco Brennand
(boats charge R$5 to go across,
daily 7am-5pm). Beyond the Centro do Artesanato lies the
Cais do Sertão Luiz Gonzaga
(
W
luizluagonzaga.mus.br), which should be open near here as a museum and cultural
centre by 2015. On the other side of the island lies the
Paço Alfândega
, a 1732 convent
that became a customs house in 1826 and is now a posh shopping mall (see p.27). Next
door stands the elegant
Igreja da Madre de Deus
, dating back to 1679.
Museu do Homem do Nordeste
Av 17 de Agosto 2187, Casa Forte • Tues-Fri 8.30am-5pm, Sat & Sun 1-5pm • R$4 •
T
81 3073 6340,
W
fundaj.gov.br • Take the “Dois
Irmãos” bus from outside the post o
ce or from Parque 13 de Maio in Boa Vista
Founded by Gilberto Freyre (see p.670 & p.671), the
Museu do Homem do Nordeste
is
the best introduction there is to the history and culture of the Northeast. It's split into
several galleries, each devoted to one of the great themes of Northeastern economy and
society: sugar, cattle, fishing, popular religion, festivals, ceramics and so on. The
museum's strongest point is its unrivalled collection of
popular
art
- there are displays
not just of handicrafts, but also of cigarette packets, tobacco pouches and, best of all,
a superb collection of postwar bottles of
cachaça
.
Museu do Estado de Pernambuco
Av Rui Barbosa 960, Graças • Tues-Fri 9am-5pm, Sat & Sun 2-5pm • Free •
T
81 3427 9322 • Take the “Dois Irmãos” bus from outside the
post o
ce or from Parque 13 de Maio
The Pernambuco state history museum, the
Museu do Estado de Pernambuco
, occupies
an elegant nineteenth-century mansion in Graças that once belonged to the son of the
Barão de Beberibe. Here you'll find prehistoric and indigenous artefacts, antique
furniture, Chinese porcelain, some fine engravings of Recife as it was in the early part of
the last century, all of them by English artists, and upstairs there are good paintings by
Telles Júnior, which give you an idea of what tropical Turners might have looked like.
4
Casa Museu Gilberto Freyre
Rua Dois Irmãos 320, Apipucos • Mon-Fri 9am-5pm (last entry 4.30pm) • R$10 •
T
81 3441 1733,
W
www.fgf.org.br
Fans of the lauded Brazilian author of
The Masters and the Slaves
Palácio da Justiça should
make the pilgrimage to his nineteenth-century house, the
Casa Museu Gilberto Freyre
,
now a museum commemorating his life (1900-87) with books, personal effects and the
creaky old rooms frozen in time. The enthusiastic guides speak very little English.
Instituto Ricardo Brennand
Alameda Antônio Brennand, Várzea • Tues-Sun 1-5pm • R$20 •
T
81 2121 0352,
W
institutoricardobrennand.org.br • Taxis will charge at
least R$110 round-trip from Boa Viagem; or take bus #40 on Av Domingos Ferreira (in Boa Viagem) or Av Agamenon Magalhâes (bordering
Boa Vista) and take it to the end of the line; walk to the end of the road, and turn right onto Rua Isaac Buril; the institute is at the end of
this road on the left
Though quite a trek from the city centre, the
Instituto Ricardo Brennand
and nearby
Oficina Brennand (see p.270) are the most beguiling attractions in the region, the
former a museum in the northern suburbs housed in a faux Tudor castle, the “Castelo
São João” (complete with working drawbridge). Inside is the Museu de Armas, with
over three thousand medieval Asian and European weapons, suits of armour and the
like, but also tapestries, stained glass and antique European furnishings - all rather
jarring considering the palm trees outside. In the adjacent Pinacoteca building there's
changing art exhibitions, a gallery of nineteenth-century Brazilian landscape paintings
and a fascinating space dedicated to the
Dutch occupation of Brazil
(including the
world's largest collection of paintings by Frans Post).
