Half-Day Rio de Janeiro Walking Tour

Praça Floriano occupies part of the land of the former Convento da Ajuda, built in the 18th century and demolished in the first decade of the 20th century. The idea of transforming the new square, surrounded by the buildings of the National Library, the City Hall (Palácio Pedro Ernesto), the former Federal Supreme Court, the Monroe Palace and the Municipal Theater into a Brazilian version of Times Square came from businessman Francisco Serrador, a Spanish based in Brazil and owner of casinos (currently prohibited in Brazil), cinemas, theaters and hotels. The name Cinelândia became popular in the 1930s. Dozens of theaters, nightclubs, bars and restaurants were installed in the region, making it a reference in terms of popular entertainment.

National Library, also called National Library of Brazil, whose official institutional name is Fundação Biblioteca Nacional, is the depository of Brazil's bibliographic and documentary heritage, considered by UNESCO one of the ten largest national libraries in the world and the largest in Latin America.

Its history is much older, and dates back to the arrival of the Portuguese royal family in 1808, Dom João VI arrives in Brazil with a set of works of art, some of which remained after his return to Europe and appear as the initial core of the collection. . The king founded the Royal School of Science, Arts and Crafts. In 1826, Emperor Pedro I changed the name to Academia Imperial de Belas Artes. Over the years, the Imperial Academy formed a significant art gallery and a glyptotheque, and with the advent of the Republic, the academy was renamed the Escola Nacional de Belas Artes.

Municipal Theater opened at the beginning of the 20th century during the first major reform of the city. Designed in the molds of the Opera de Paris, it has played an important role since the beginning of Rio de Janeiro and national culture, receiving on its stage important artists, orchestras and ballet companies.

Metropolitan Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro, was inaugurated in 1979, in conical format, the great differential of the building, of straight and sober lines, are the colorful stained glass windows on the walls to the summit.

The institution was founded in 1837 by a group of forty -three Portuguese immigrants, political refugees, to promote culture among the Portuguese community in the then capital of the Empire. It was the first association of this community in the city. In a neomanueline style, which evokes the exuberant Gothic-renascentist style in force at the time of Portuguese discoveries.

The confectionery was founded in 1894 by Portuguese immigrants Joaquim Borges de Meireles and Manuel José Lebrão.

Its architecture and environment allow you to get an idea of ​​what the Belle Époque would have been like. At the beginning of the 20th century, the interior halls were renovated, with an Art Nouveau touch, with huge crystal mirrors brought from Antwerp, framed by elegant friezes carved in rosewood wood. The wooden furniture inside was carved at the same time by artisan Antônio Borsoi. The facilities were expanded with the construction of a second floor, with a tea room. An opening in the ceiling of the ground floor allows you to see the tea room's skylight, decorated with beautiful stained glass windows.

This historic building, in neoclassical style, was designed by the French architect Grandjean de Montigny, by order of D.João VI, and inaugurated on May 13, 1820, aiming at the installation of the First Praça do Comércio in the City of Rio de Janeiro.

Conceived as Praça do Comércio, it later housed several functions, such as Customs, Archives of the Ítalo-Germanic Bank and the II Jury Court. In 1990, it was opened as a Cultural Center.

The hermitage built in 1609, by the Portuguese Antônio Martins Palma and Leonor Gonçalves who faced a storm on the high seas, while traveling in a ship called "Candelária". Promising our lady of Candelária, that if they survived, they would build the hermitage.

There were several renovations and additions from the 18th century until the parish church of Candelária began to be renovated in 1710. The inauguration, with the church still unfinished, took place in 1811, in the presence of the Prince Regent, D. João VI. The church had, at that time, only one nave. After the intervention of several architects, the dome was finally completed in 1877. The different parts of the dome, in Portuguese limestone, were made in Lisbon, as well as the eight statues that decorate it, sculpted by the Portuguese José Cesário de Salles. When finished, the dome was the tallest building in the city (62.24 meters high from the floor to the dome), visible from a distance.

The square has existed since the 16th century, when the Jesuits built a hermitage facing Piaçaba beach. The square was named in honor of November 15, 1889, the day the Republic was proclaimed in Brazil. It was once called Largo do Terreiro da Polé; Largo do Carmo; Carmo Square; Terreiro do Paço; and Largo do Paço. And it has several points of historical and political importance, such as the Imperial Palace and the Tiradentes Palace, in addition to the Mestre Valentim Fountain; the Statue of Dom João VI; the Statue of General Osório, an important military combatant in the Paraguayan War; and the Statue of the Black Admiral, a tribute to João Cândido, who led the Revolt of the Lash in 1910. And the beautiful view of Ilha Fiscal.

In the early history of the city, in the 16th century, in the region currently occupied by Largo da Carioca, there was a lagoon where it was donated to the Franciscans who denated the lagoon by opening the old Rua do Valão (today Uruguaiana) and built their convent and church on top. from the hill.