Introduction to Porto Alegre, RS The City

Porto Alegre sprawls out over a series of hills with the centre spread between two levels, the older residential area on the higher level and the commercial area below. In the 1960s and 1970s the city centre underwent dramatic redevelopment with new urban highways, ever larger office buildings and landfill schemes to improve the docks. Despite the destruction accompanying the construction boom, many of Porto Alegre’s nineteenth- and early twentieth-century buildings escaped demolition, and the city has succeeded in retaining some of its former dignity. In the city centre itself, everything is within an easy walk, and a half-day or so is enough to visit most places of interest.

The ochre-coloured Mercado Público is at the heart of the lower town, located alongside Praça Rui Barbosa and Praça XV de Novembro. Dating back to 1869 and said to be a replica of Lisbon’s Mercado da Figueira, this imposing building, with its intricate, typically Portuguese, stuccoed detail, contains an absorbing mix of stalls selling household goods, food, a vast variety of herbs, erva maté of all grades of quality and regional handicrafts. Much of the maze of streets around the market is pedestrianized; the bar and restaurant on Praça XV de Novembro, formerly the meeting place of the city’s artists and intellectuals, is an especially good spot from which to watch everyone pass by. To the left of the market is the Palácio Municipal, the old Prefeitura, built in Neoclassical style between 1898 and 1901, its impressive proportions an indication of civic pride and self-confidence during the period when Porto Alegre was developing from being a mere southern outpost into an important city. Between about 1880 and 1930, Porto Alegre attracted large numbers of southern and Eastern European immigrants and in front of the palace is a fountain, a gift to the city from its once considerable Spanish community.

The streets along the steep slope rising from the low-lying parts of the centre (Rua dos Andradas, Rua General Vitorino and Rua Andrade Neves, which becomes Avenida Senador Salgado Filho) mark Porto Alegre’s main commercial district of clothing stores, travel agents and banks. Further up the hill are Praça da Matriz (officially called Praça Marechal Deodoro) and Largo João Amorim do Albuquerque, where the former legislative assembly and some of Porto Alegre’s oldest buildings are concentrated. Despite the buildings in this part of the city having late eighteenth- to mid-nineteenth-century origins, they have undergone so many renovations and additions over the past couple of centuries that only vaguely, if at all, do they bear any resemblance to their colonial predecessors. Though the foundations of the Catedral Metropolitana are built over those of a church that dates back to 1772, the present Italianate structure was only begun in 1921, and wasn’t completed until 1986. Work on the former legislative assembly also started in 1772 but, likewise, it has undergone innumerable renovations over the years. The Palácio Piratini (the state governor’s residence) dates from only 1909, while across from it, the Teatro São Pedro was inaugurated in 1858. Surprisingly, its Portuguese Baroque appearance has remained largely unmolested, and the theatre is an important venue for local and visiting companies. The Consulado Italiano (Italian consulate) is an impressive mansion and its prominent position, on the east side of the Praça da Matriz (no. 134), is a symbol of the important role Italians maintained in Porto Alegre and elsewhere in Rio Grande do Sul.

Porto Alegre’s museums are a poor bunch, which is somewhat surprising for a city that has long been prosperous and is the most important cultural centre south of São Paulo. One that does stand out is the Casa de Cultura Mário Quintana, Rua dos Andradas 736 (Tues–Fri 9am–9pm, Sat & Sun noon–9pm), one of Latin America’s largest cultural centres. Designed in Neoclassical style by the German architect Theo Wiederspahn in 1923, the extremely elegant rose-coloured building was a hotel until 1980 and as such was once a popular meeting point for local artists, intellectuals and politicians, including presidents Vargas and Goulart. The poet Mário Quintana was a long-time resident, hence the name. Apart from numerous exhibition galleries, the Casa de Cultura houses a library, a cinema, a decent restaurant and a café. The Museu de Arte do Rio Grande do Sul, Praça da Alfândega (Tues–Sun 10am–5pm), has been devastated by thefts but still has a reasonable collection of work by gaúcho artists, among which the nineteenth-century landscapes deserve particular attention; it also hosts occasional special exhibitions. The Museu Julio de Castilhos, Rua Duque de Caxias 1231 (Tues–Fri 10am–7pm, Sat & Sun 2–6pm), presents a patchy and poor history of the state. A curiosity – rather than intrinsically interesting – is the Museu da Força Expedicionária Brasileira at Av. João Pessoa 567 (Mon–Wed & Fri 2–5pm, Thurs 8–11.30am), where exhibits relate to the Brazilian battalions which served in the Italian campaign of World War II.

Information by Rough Guides

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