Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1
Museu Internacional de Arte Naïf do Brasil
Rua Cosme Velho 561 • Tues-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat, Sun & public holidays 10am-5pm • R$12 •
T
21 2205 8612
If you have the time and inclination, a five-minute walk uphill from the cog-train
station on Rua Cosme Velho will take you to the
Museu Internacional de Arte Naïf do
Brasil
, which boasts the world's largest collection of naive art; although most of the work
displayed is by Brazilian artists, the museum features paintings from across the globe.
Largo do Boticário
A few hundred meters west (uphill) from the Cosme Velho cog-train station, the
much-photographed
Largo do Boticário
is named after royal apothecary Joaquim Luiz
da Silva Santo, who lived here in the nineteenth century. With its pebbled streets and
fountain set in the small courtyard, this is a particularly picturesque little corner of Rio.
However, as old as the
largo
might appear to be, the original mid-nineteenth-century
houses were demolished in the 1920s and replaced by colourful Neocolonial-style
homes, many with
azulejo
-decorated facades.
Glória, Catete and Flamengo
The nearest beach to the city centre is at Flamengo, and although it's not the best in
Rio you might end up using it more than you think, since the neighbouring
bairros
,
Catete and Glória, are useful and cheap
places to stay
(see pp.94-95). Until the
1950s, Flamengo and Catete were the principal residential zones of Rio's wealthier
middle classes, and although the mantle has now passed to Ipanema and Leblon, the
bairros
still have a relaxed appeal. Busy during the day, the tree-lined streets come alive
at night with residents eating in the local restaurants, and it's tranquil enough to
encourage sitting out on the pavement at the bars, beneath the palm trees and
apartment buildings.
Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Glória do Outeiro
Praça Nossa Senhora da Glória 135 • Mon-Fri 8am-noon & 1-5pm, Sat, Sun & public holidays 8am-2pm • Free •
T
21 2225 2869,
W
outeirodagloria.org.br •
M
Glória
Across from the Glória
metrô
station, on top of the Morro da Glória, the early
eighteenth-century
Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Glória do Outeiro
is notable for its
innovative octagonal ground-plan, and for its domed roof decked with lovely
seventeenth-century blue-and-white
azulejo
tiles and nineteenth-century marble
masonry. Painstakingly renovated, the church, quite simply the prettiest in Rio, is an
absolute gem, easily worth a detour to visit. Its small
museum
has a small collection of
religious relics,
ex votos
and the personal possessions of Empress Tereza Cristina.
Museu da República (Palácio do Catete)
Rua do Catete 153 • Tues-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat, Sun & public holidays 2-6pm • R$6; free Wed & Sun •
T
21 3235 3693 •
M
Catete
he
Museu da República
is housed in the
Palácio do Catete
, which was the presidential
residence from 1897 until 1960. Erected in the 1860s as the Rio home of a wealthy
coffee-
fazenda
owner, it was here in 1954 that the country's longest-serving president,
Getúlio Vargas, shot himself dead (see p.645). As a historical museum, the
palácio
continues where the Museu Histórico Nacional (see p.69) leaves off, with the
establishment of the first Republic in 1888. The collection features both period
furnishings and presidential memorabilia - including Vargas's bullet-holed pyjamas
(and the gun and bullet which killed him) - though it's the opulent marble and stained
glass of the building itself that make a visit so worthwhile. The grounds include an
exhibition space, theatre and art gallery, which means there is often something
happening here at night, while the floodlit gardens make it a beautiful
venue. he
restaurant, in a glassed-in, turn-of-the-twentieth-century terrace overlooking the
gardens, is only open at lunchtime and boasts an excellent salad buffet.
