Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Escadaria de Selarón
M
Cinelândia ot Glória
Climbing up into Santa Teresa from Rua Joaquim Silva, Rua Manoel Caneiro is a steep
stairway better known as the
Escadaria de Selarón
(Selarón's Stairway) for its colourful
display of tiles put together by Chilean artist Jorge Selarón. He began making it in
1990, originally in the colours of the Brazilian flag as a tribute to the people of Brazil,
but in 1998 he found a place selling old European tiles, which he began to incorporate,
and then started adding his own ceramic pictures. People sent him tiles from all over the
world, and so the stairway kept changing. Unfortunately he refused to pay protection to
local gangsters, and as a result was brutally murdered in January 2013. On Friday and
Saturday nights you'll find a motley (and sometimes rather rough) crew gathered here,
with caipirinhas on sale, and police in attendance in case of trouble. In the daytime, it's
somewhat less rowdy, and you can safely pull out your camera for a few snaps.
1
Santa Teresa
South of Lapa,
Santa Teresa
, a leafy
bairro
of labyrinthine, cobbled streets and steps
(
ladeiras
), and with stupendous vistas of the city and bay below, makes a refreshing
contrast to the city centre. Although it clings to the side of a hill, Santa Teresa is no
favela
: it's a slightly dishevelled residential area dominated by the nineteenth-century
mansions and walled gardens of a prosperous community that still enjoys something
of a bohemian reputation, with many artists choosing to live and work here.
The tramway
Santa Teresa is traditionally served by ageing trams (
bondes
), providing a bone-rattling ride
up and down the hill and across the Arcos da Lapa from the terminal behind the Petrobrás
building (see opposite). Unfortunately the tramway has been closed for upgrading, and it
is not clear when it will reopen. On its way up, it passes the
Carmelite Convento e Igreja
Santa Teresa
, on the spot where Rio's inhabitants beat off the French army in 1710.
Museu do Bonde
Rua Monte Alegre 306 • Tues-Sun 8am-4.30pm • Free
he
Museu do Bonde
, illustrating the tramway's history, is worth a visit even if you're
not especially interested in transport. Its small and attractively displayed collection
includes an old tram, photo displays and memorabilia documenting the history of
trams in Rio from their nineteenth-century introduction, showing how this means
of public transport enabled the city to expand so rapidly along the coast.
Museu Chácara do Céu
Rua Murtinho Nobre 93 • Noon-5pm; closed Tues • R$2; Wed free •
T
21 3970 1126,
W
museuscastromaya.com.br/chacara.htm
Located in a modernist stone building erected in 1957, the
Museu Chácara do Céu
made headline news during the 2006 Carnaval when it was raided in broad daylight by
armed thieves, who took four paintings by Matisse, Monet, Picasso and Dalí valued at
US$50 million, before melting into the crowd outside. Despite these important losses,
it remains one of Rio's better museums, holding an eclectic European collection as well
as twentieth-century Brazilian works by painters such as Cândido Portinari, Emiliano
di Cavalcanti, Heitor dos Prazeres and Djanira. In the upper hall, two screens depict
the life of Krishna, and there are twin seventh-century iron-sculptured horses from the
Imperial Palace in Beijing.
Parque das Ruínas
Rua Murtinho Nobre 169 • Tues-Sun 8am-6pm • Free
he
Parque das Ruínas
is an attractive public garden that contains the ruins of a
mansion, formerly home to Laurinda Santos Lobo, a Brazilian heiress around whom
