Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
by French architect George Maunier, with 75m-high towers, the new cathedral
replaced the earlier nineteenth-century incarnation, demolished in 1938.
Museu do Ceará
Rua São Paulo 51 • Tues-Sat 9am-5pm • Free • T 85 3101 2611
Located smack in the middle of Centro's frenetic commercial district, the curious
Museu do Ceará fits right in with the scruffy, elegant decay of the area, despite
occupying the Palacete Senador Alencar, the grand Neoclassical palace completed
in 1871 to house the provincial assembly. Ostensibly a museum of the history of
the state (there is a small collection of pre-Columbian artefacts), it's best on the
nineteenth century, displaying a number of curios sure to delight aficionados.
Highlights include odd mementoes of the 1832 Insurreição do Crato (earth in a jar
from where leader Joaquim Pinto Madeira was executed, and his blunderbuss); shiny
daggers belonging to bandit Lampião (see box, p.260); the flag of the “Pandaria
Spritual” literary group of the 1890s; and a stuffed goat dubbed “Yoyo” that became
a virtual city mascot one hundred years ago. There's also a small but poignant gallery
dedicated to Frei Tito , born here in 1945, who committed suicide in 1974 after being
tortured by the military regime.
From the museum you can wander across to the Praça do Ferreira , the former heart of
the city and still ringed by relatively grand nineteenth-century buildings.
Praça José de Alencar
The city's largest square is Praça José de Alencar , a parched, fairly bare space,
anchored by a statue of writer and politician José de Alencar, which comes alive
in the late afternoon and early evening, when the crowds attract capoeira groups,
street sellers of all kinds and repentistas . Fortaleza seems to specialize in these street
poets, who with great skill and wit gather an audience by improvising a verse or
two about those standing around watching, passing round a hat for you to show
your appreciation.
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Teatro José de Alencar
Rua 24 de Maio 600 (Praça José de Alencar) • Courtyard open Mon-Fri 8am-5pm, Sat 8am-noon • Free tours Tues-Fri 9am-5pm hourly;
Sat & Sun 2pm, 3pm, 4pm & 5pm • R$4 • T 85 3101 2567
The most elegant building in Fortaleza lies on the south side of Praça José de Alencar,
where the beautiful Teatro José de Alencar is named after the great nineteenth-century
novelist and poet who was a native of the city. Completed in 1910, the theatre's fine
tropical-Edwardian exterior is in fact only a facade, which leads into an open courtyard
and the main body of the theatre. It is built in ornate and beautifully worked cast-iron
sections, which were brought over complete from Scotland and reassembled here. It
remains a key space for theatrical performances and concerts. The surrounding gardens
were designed by Burle Marx in the 1970s.
Centro Dragão do Mar
Rua Dragão do Mar 81 • Daily 8am-11pm • Free Museums Tues-Thurs 9am-7pm, Fri-Sun 10am-8pm • Free • T 85 3488 8625 •
Planetarium Thurs & Fri 6pm, 7pm & 8pm, Sat & Sun 5pm, 6pm, 7pm & 8pm (40min shows) • R$8
he vast Centro Dragão do Mar complex makes a striking contrast to the rest of
the city, containing a couple of small museums well worth a peek. Architecturally
it's very modern, but its steel and glass curves blend sensitively with the attractive
old terraced buildings over and around which it is built. The Museu de Arte
Contemporanea do Ceará is a bright, well-curated gallery showing primarily local
and Brazilian artists in a variety of media, while the Memorial da Cultura Cearense
hosts various changing exhibits on aspects of Ceará history, art and culture, but
also houses a permanent exhibit on the lower levels dedicated to the Vaqueiros , the
hardy cowboys of the state. This is an especially enlightening exhibit on Brazil's
 
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