Attractions Belém

Belém - Attractions region Belém

Cidade Velha

This is the old town in Belém and is full of old Portuguese colonial mansions, buildings and churches.

Igreja das Mercês

This is the oldest church of Belém. Architecturally it's nothing very interesting, but as a living, working relic it has some very nice features. The holy water, for example, is dispensed from an upside-down rum bottle with the label half torn off.

Forte do Castelo

This is an old fort built by the Portuguese in 1616. Today it is a bar, a handicraft shop and restaurant.

Igreja Santo Alexandre

Catedral de Nossa Senhora da Graça

This cathedral was built in 1748, though it has been renovated many times since, including in the 19^th century when the original wooden altar was replaced by one of marble and alabaster, over 10 m high, designed by Luca Garimi. The interior of the cathedral is hung with some fine paintings.

Lauro Sodré and Antônio Lemos Palaces

These Palaces are located on the Praça do Relógio behind the old port and Ver o Peso. The Palácio Lauro Sodré, built in 1890 at the height of the rubber boom, has an elegant blue and white neoclassical colonial exterior and a series of courtyards which are occasionally used as galleries for traveling exhibitions.

Upstairs is the Salão Nobre, a huge suite of reception rooms running the entire length of the frontage with crystal chandeliers, beautiful inlaid wooden floors and Art Nouveau furniture. A separate section of the palace houses the Museu do Estado do Pará, which has an archive of around 6,000 historical pieces plus collections of Art Nouveau and modern art.

Next door is the dazzling white Palácio Antônio Lemos. It was built in 1770 and it was from here that the joint Portuguese-Spanish border commissions set out to agree the frontiers of Brazil in colonial times. Pará's independence from Portugal in 1822 and adhesion to the Republic in 1888 were declared from here and it was on the staircase here that President Lobo de Souza was shot down on January 7, 1835. Today it houses the Museu de Arte de Belém, containing paintings dating back to the 18^th century, but it is the palace building itself which is the real highlight. Apart from the magnificent central staircase, carved from marble during the rubber boom, the ground floor and half of the 1^st floor are still much as they were in the 18^th century, uncluttered and elegant.

Praça da Republica

This is an attractive central park with plenty of trees affording valuable shade and is a perfect place to start a walking tour of Belém's downtown and riverfront attractions. The praça itself is sumptuously endowed with fine statues and columns focusing on its fountain centerpiece. Located on the square is the most obvious sign of Belém's rubber fortunes; the Rococo Teatro da Paz, built in 1868 in neoclassical style, is a famous theater, which has hosted many famous performers including Anna Pavlova.

Ver o Peso market

This market is located on the dock by the Guajará bay at the old town and is one of the largest markets in Brazil. It was designed and built in England and assembled in Belém. Ver o Peso market is not quite the colorful spectacle it once was, but it remains the liveliest spot in town early in the morning.

Ver o Peso ("see the weight") was originally a slave market, but now an infinite number of products is sold on hundred tents around the market; fish, regional fruits, vegetables, herbs and medicinal and aromatic roots, seasonings, typical food and drinking, craftwork, alligator and crocodile body parts and anaconda snakes. There's not much that is aimed at tourists, but Ver o Peso is one of the most interesting traditional markets in all South America, so definitely worth a visit. The market was founded in the 17^th century and continues to be very important to the city supply. On the wharf next to the market, the movement of ships arriving with goods to be sold is intense.

Basilica of Nossa Senhora de Nazaré

Located in the Cidade Velha and created in 1908, it is one of the most beautiful temples in South America. It somehow manages to be both ornate and simple at the same time, a cruciform structure with a fine wooden ceiling and attractive Moorish designs decorating the 16 main arches. This is home to one of the most revered images in Brazil, the Nossa Senhora de Nazaré.

It is said to have been originally sculpted in Nazareth in the early years of Christianity, from where it found its way to Spain by the 8^th century. Here it had to be hidden from the Moors, and somehow it ended up in Portugal, where the first important miracle occurred in the 12^th century.

The mayor of Porto de Mós was saved by the intervention of the Virgin. He built a chapel in celebration, and from there the Jesuits brought the image to Brazil in the 17^th century. On the first attempt to bring it to Belém, the image was lost in the jungle, and rediscovered in 1700 by a rancher. He built a shrine to house the Virgin, and word of its miraculous properties rapidly spread; today that shrine has grown to an impressive church, and the cult of Nossa Senhora de Nazaré is stronger than ever.

The most obvious sign of the thriving cult is the annual Cirio de Nazaré (Festival of Candles), for which something approaching a million people flock to Belém on the 2^nd Sunday in October A copy of the image is carried in a vast parade made up of thousands of young people, who between them also carry an old 380 m-long anchor rope that weighs well over a ton; by touching the rope, the faithful, according to traditional belief, will receive the blessing of Our Lady.

Goeldi Amazonian research institute

Founded in 1866, this is one of only 2 Brazilian research institutes in the Amazon, and plays a vital role in developing local expertise.

The gardens alone are worth a visit and, quite apart from the collections of plants, birds, animals and Indian artifacts, any money you spend here goes not only to the upkeep of the museum and its grounds but also to a wide program of research in everything from anthropology to zoology.

Set in the compact but beautifully laid-out botanical gardens here is a small zoo. Tapirs, manatees, big cats, huge alligators, terrapins, electric eels and an incredible selection of birds make this place an important site for anyone interested in the forest. By Brazilian standards the animals are reasonably kept, too.

The museum, particularly the geology, ecology, archeology and anthropology sections, is equally fascinating and well organized. Some of the early Marajó island ceramics are particularly impressive: marvellous pots and bowls which are virtually the only reminder of a culture that had already vanished when the Portuguese arrived.