Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Centro
São Paulo's
Centro
(downtown area) hangs between two main squares,
Praça da Sé
on
its eastern side, and
Praça da República
to its west. Its northern edge is marked by the
station at Luz, and to its south it borders the strongly Japanese neighbourhood of
Liberdade and the traditionally Italian neighbourhood of Bixiga.
Praça da Sé and around
Praça da Sé
, the most convenient starting point of a hunt for what remains of
colonial
São Paulo
, is a large expanse of concrete and fountains. During the day the square
outside bustles with activity, always crowded with hawkers and people heading towards
the commercial district on its western fringes. The
sundial
just outside the cathedral is
considered the exact centre of the city from which all road distances to São Paulo are
measured, and its inscription indicates the direction of other Brazilian states. At night
the square is transformed into a campsite for homeless children, who survive as best
they can by shining shoes, selling chewing gum or begging.
Catedral Metropolitana
Praça da Sé • Mon-Fri 8am-7pm, Sat 8am-5pm, Sun 8am-6pm • Free •
M
Sé
Praça da Sé is dominated by the
Catedral Metropolitana
, a huge Neogothic structure
with capacity for 8000. Completed in 1954, it replaced São Paulo's eighteenth-century
cathedral. Although the building is largely unremarkable, its doorway is interesting for
having distinctly tropical details such as coffee beans and crocodiles alongside the more
usual apostles and saints.
8
Pátio do Colégio
Rua Boa Vista • Chapel Mon-Fri 8am-5pm; Museum Tues-Sun 9am-4.45pm, Sat & Sun 9am-4.30pm • R$6 •
W
pateocollegio.com.br •
M
Sé
Just north of Praça da Sé you'll find the site of the city's origins. The whitewashed
Portuguese Baroque
Pátio do Colégio
is a replica of the college and chapel that formed
the centre of the Jesuit mission founded here by the priests José de Anchieta and Manoel
da Nóbrega on January 25, 1554 (the anniversary celebrated as a citywide holiday).
Although built in 1896 (the other buildings forming the Pátio were constructed in the
twentieth century), the chapel is an accurate reproduction, but it's in the
Museu Padre
Anchieta
, part of the Pátio, that the most interesting sixteenth- and early seventeenth-
century relics - mostly old documents, maps and watercolours - are held. The complex
also has a pretty outdoor café and a craft shop, whose proceeds go to a local charity.
Museu da Cidade
Rua Roberto Simonsen 136 • Tues-Sun 9am-5pm • Free •
T
11 3241 1081,
W
www.museudacidade.sp.gov.br •
M
Sé
Just off Praça da Sé and around the corner from the Pátio do Colégio is the
Museu
da Cidade
. More interesting than the museum's small collection chronicling the
development of São Paulo is the building that it's housed in, the
Solar da Marquesa
de Santos
- an eighteenth-century manor house that represents the sole remaining
residential building in the city from this period.
Igreja do Carmo
Av Rangel Pestana 230 • Mon-Fri 8am-noon & 1-5pm, Sat & Sun 8am-noon • Free •
T
11 3119 1168 •
M
Sé
Just east of Praça da Sé, the well-preserved
Igreja do Carmo
(or, to give its full title, Igreja
da Ordem Terceira do Carmo) was built in 1632 and still retains many of its seventeenth-
century features, as well as a fine Baroque high altar that dates from the century after that.
Igreja de São Francisco de Assis
Largo de São Francisco 133 • Mon-Sat 7am-3.30pm, Sun 7am-12.30pm • Free •
M
Anhangabaú
West of the Praça da Sé (a 2min walk down Rua Senador Feijó), the
Igreja de São
Francisco de Assis
is one of the best-preserved colonial buildings in the city. Built
