Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1
Museu Naval e Oceanográfico
Rua Dom Manuel 15 • Tues-Sun noon-5pm • Free • T 21 2233 9165 • M Carioca
A couple of blocks southeast of Praça XV de Novembro, the Museu Naval e
Oceanográfico is housed in what was originally the city's naval headquarters. The
collection charts Brazil's naval history and includes pieces such as sixteenth-century
nautical charts, scale replicas of European galleons, paintings depicting scenes from the
Brazil-Paraguay War and exhibits of twentieth-century naval hardware. Above all, the
collections provide an insight into the colonial nature of Brazilian history, demonstrating
that Brazilian naval engagements were determined by the interests of the Portuguese
Empire until the nineteenth century; as a primarily slave-based plantation economy
until 1888, Brazil's military hardware came from the foundries of industrialized Europe.
Espaço Cultural da Marinha
Av Alfredo Agache • Tues-Sun noon-5pm • Free • T 21 2104 5592, W mar.mil.br/dphdm • M Uruguaiana
Even if you normally have no great interest in naval history, the Espaço Cultural da Marinha
is well worth a stroll along the waterfront to visit. This long dockside building was once
used as the port's main customs wharf, but today houses a lengthy exhibition hall, the
pride of place given to the painstakingly restored, gold-leaf-adorned Galiota Dom João VI .
Some 24m long and 3.6m wide, this oar-powered boat was built in Salvador in 1807,
from where it was transported to Rio in 1817. Until 1920, it was used to ferry members of
the royal family and visiting heads of state from their ships anchored offshore.
Ilha Fiscal
1km northeast of the Espaço Cultural da Marinha • Thurs-Sun 11am-5.30pm; crossings Thurs-Sun 12.30pm, 2pm & 3.30pm; 15min •
Boat ride R$20 • T 21 2104 6992, W mar.mil.br/dphdm/ilha/ilha.htm
Connected to the mainland by a series of lengthy causeways, the Ilha Fiscal is more
easily reached from the Espaço Cultural da Marinha by boat, a wonderful little
excursion on the bay. To ensure a place on the crossings, arrive early at the Espaço
Cultural. The only building on the Ilha is a customs collection centre, a wonderfully
ornate structure from the 1880s put up in a bizarre hybrid of Gothic and Moorish
styles. It now houses an unremarkable naval museum, but it has seen finer times.
Indeed, the last ever grand Imperial ball was held here in November 1889, just days
before the collapse of the monarchy.
Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Candelária
Praça Pio X • Mon-Fri 7.30am-4pm, Sat 8am-noon, Sun & public holidays 9am-1pm • Free • M Uruguaiana
At the end of Rua Primeiro de Março you emerge onto Praça Pio X , dominated by the
Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Candelária , an interesting combination of Baroque and
Renaissance features resulting from the financial di culties that delayed the completion
of the building for more than a century after its foundation in 1775. Until 1943 the
church was hemmed in by other buildings, but it got its own space when those were
demolished to make way for the fourteen-lane Avenida Presidente Vargas. Inside, the
altars, walls and supporting columns are sculpted from variously coloured marble, while
high above, the eight pictures in the dome represent the three theological virtues (Faith,
Hope and Charity), the cardinal virtues (Prudence, Justice, Strength and Temperance),
and the Virgin Mary - all of them late nineteenth-century work of the Brazilian artist
João Zeferino da Costa. There's more grand decoration in the two pulpits, luxuriously
worked in bronze and supported by large white angels sculpted in marble.
Museu de Arte do Rio
Praça Mauá 5 • Tues 10am -7pm, Wed-Sun 10am-5pm • R$8; Tues free • T 21 3031 2741, W museudeartedorio.org.br • M Uruguaiana
Housed in two adjacent but quite different buildings - an early twentieth-century
palace and a more functional 1940s building that was previously a bus station and
police hospital - the Museu de Arte do Rio now unites both under a single wavy roof to
 
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