Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1
TOFFS AND TOUGHS
Families belonging to Rio's wealthy classes originally lived in
luxurious apartments
above
street level in what is now Centro, while the street below was traditionally a refuge for “beggars
and rogues of the worst type; lepers, thieves, murderers, prostitutes and hoodlums”, as Brasil
Gerson put it in his 1954 book,
História das Ruas do Rio de Janeiro
.
In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, one local ex-prostitute,
Bárbara dos
Prazeres
, achieved notoriety as a folk devil. It was commonly believed that the blood of a
dead dog or cat applied to the body provided a cure for leprosy, and Bárbara is supposed to
have enhanced the e
cacy of this cure by stealing newborn babies and draining their blood.
Sought by the authorities for a spate of child murders, Bárbara mysteriously vanished, but her
ghost is said to haunt the Arco de Teles to this day.
example, designed by the Italian architect Rebecchi, was built in 1905. Inside, the high
altar is detailed in silver and boasts a beautiful work by the painter Antônio Parreires,
representing Nossa Senhora do Carmo (an incarnation of the Virgin Mary) seated among
the clouds and surrounded by the sainted founders of the Carmelite Order. Below, in the
crypt
, are the supposed mortal remains of Pedro Alvares Cabral, Portuguese discoverer of
Brazil; in reality, he was almost certainly laid to rest in Santarém in Portugal.
Igreja da Ordem Terceira do Monte do Carmo
Rua Primeiro de Março, next to the Antiga Sé • Mon-Fri 8am-4pm, Sat 8-11am • Free •
T
21 2242 4828,
W
igrejanscarmorj.com.br •
M
Carioca and Uruguaiana
Next door to the Antiga Sé, the late eighteenth-century
Igreja da Ordem Terceira do
Monte do Carmo
has no fewer than seven altars, all sculpted by Pedro Luiz da Cunha.
Each bears an image symbolizing a moment in the Passion of Christ, from Calvary to
the Crucifixion. The high altar itself is beautifully worked in silver. The church and
adjacent convent are linked by a small public chapel, the Oratório de Nossa Senhora
da Boa Esperança, which is dedicated to Our Lady of the Cape of Good Hope and
decorated in
azulejo
blue tiling.
Igreja de Santa Cruz dos Militares
Rua Primeiro de Março 36 • Mon-Fri 9am-3pm • Free •
M
Uruguaiana
On the east side of Primeiro de Março, two blocks north of Praça XV de Novembro,
the church of
Santa Cruz dos Militares
was founded by a group of army of
cers in
1628 on the site of an old fort. It was used for funerals of serving of
cers until taken
over in 1716 (against opposition from the army) by the Fathers of the Igreja de São
Sebastião, which had become dilapidated. They soon let this one fall into a similar
state of ruin, which was only reversed when the army of
cers took back control in
1780 and put up the granite and marble building that survives today. Inside, the nave,
with its stuccoed ceiling, has been skilfully decorated with plaster relief images from
Portugal's imperial past. A small
museum
on the ground floor houses a collection of
military and religious relics.
Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil
Rua Primeiro de Março 66 • 9am-9pm; closed Tues • Free •
T
21 3808 2020,
W
bb.com.br/cultura •
M
Uruguaiana
Opposite the end of Rua da Alfándega, the Rio branch of the
Centro Cultural Banco
do Brasil
is housed in the former headquarters of Brazil's oldest bank, a handsome
six-storey building designed by Brazilian architect Francisco Joaquim Bethencourt da
Silva, which dates from 1880. The Centro is one of Rio's foremost arts centres, with a
regular programme of events, and puts on a varied programme of exhibitions, as well
as films, music and plays - often free - having several exhibition halls, a cinema, two
theatres, a tearoom and a restaurant. On the fourth floor, there's a permanent
exhibition of Brazilian coins and banknotes, but labelled only in Portuguese.
