Mapping Brazil - Heritage: Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte

Rio De Janeiro/RJ

Publications, Websites And Portals
Cultural Guide To The Costa Verde Region (2015)
Published through a partnership between the federal government, the Rio de Janeiro state government and private sector sponsors, the guide divides the south coastal region of Rio de Janeiro state into four areas: Paraty, Angra dos Reis & Ilha Grande, Mangaratiba and Itaguaí. It presents the rich natural heritage in all four areas – their islands, rivers, waterfalls and beaches – as well as their peoples and traditions. In other words, their culture.

Arte Contemporânea: Preservar O Quê? (“Contemporary Art: What To Preserve?”) (2015) 
This publication discusses theoretical, methodological and informational issues involved in the exhibition, documentation, preservation and restoration of contemporary art. With the participation of conservation and restoration academics and practitioners from Brazil, Portugal and Spain, the book is the outcome of an international seminar organised by the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in October 2014 at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Niterói (MAC de Niterói).

Indústria, Arquitetura E Arte Na Obra De Hans Gunter Flieg, 1940-1980 (“Industry, Architecture And Art In The Work Of Hans Gunter Flieg, 1940-1980”) (2014)
This catalogue published by Instituto Moreira Salles (IMS) in partnership with the University of São Paulo’s Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC/USP) presents the work of photographer Hans Gunter Flieg spanning a career of four decades, recording developments in the country’s industry, design, architecture and advertising from 1940 to 1980.

Portal Do Patrimônio (“Heritage Portal”) (2014)
The Rio de Janeiro branch of the national heritage protection agency, Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional (IPHAN), has produced a mobile app for all heritage listed or registered in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The aim is to divulge the state’s tangible and intangible heritage and to consolidate a participative network between all three levels of government to identify and divulge heritage that represents the nation’s memory. The app is offered on a collaborative platform enabling inclusion, access and research not just of heritage inscribed by IPHAN, but heritage protected on a state and municipal level. This collaborative network linking the state and its municipalities results in a single platform providing information about all the protected heritage in the state.

Cultura.Rj (2014)
This bilingual (English/Portuguese) guide published by the Rio de Janeiro State Secretariat for Culture with funding from Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ) is an offshoot from the Cultural Map of Rio de Janeiro. It presents 238 carefully selected cultural attractions covering each of the eight regions of the state of Rio de Janeiro.

Guia Cultural do Vale do Café (2013)
Published in partnership by state and federal governments and private sector players, this guide provides information on the mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro (região serrana) in Rio Paraíba Valley, birthplace of the coffee industry in imperial times (1822-89). It presents the region’s fine tangible heritage (mansions, churches, farms) and its wealth of forests, waterfalls and protected areas, like Serra do Mar, as well as regional popular culture.

Museus Rj
A Guide to Memories and Emotions (2013)
Published by the Rio de Janeiro State Secretariat of Culture in partnership with the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, this bilingual publication and website (Portuguese/English) contains a list of museums and cultural venues in the city and state of Rio de Janeiro, providing information about their collections, architecture and services.

Cultural Map Of Rio De Janeiro (2012)
This website published by the Rio de Janeiro State Secretariat of Culture in English and Portuguese is a collaborative portal with areas providing information on upcoming events, activities and other information about culture from all the municipalities in the state of Rio de Janeiro, illustrated with photos and videos.

The main feature of the portal is that it is always being updated via the “collaborate” field, where members of the public can send in information about cultural activities in their town, giving the name of an artist, a group or a newly opened cultural venue, for instance. The map has taken over from the prior Guide to Material Heritage (Guia do Patrimônio Material), but it is more dynamic, providing readers with a list of cultural venues in the state or specific towns, a calendar listing important cultural events, and an area that lists the state’s natural, tangible and architectural heritage.

With regard to intangible heritage, the guide describes the region’s cultural manifestations, such as jongo, a rhythm from the Congo/Angola region of Africa, which was brought to Brazil during the colonial period (1500-1822) by the slaves trafficked to work on the coffee farms in the Rio Paraíba valley in the states of Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and São Paulo. One of the best known jongo centres is Jongo da Serrinha near the Madureira district of Rio de Janeiro.

In the “people” section, readers can find out about some of the leading figures in the state’s cultural scene – “living heritage”, so to speak. The Map of Culture also provides a column called “highlights” which provides an up-to-date listing of cultural venues, people and events.

Patrimônio Cultural: Guia Dos Bens Tombados Pelo Estado Do Rio De Janeiro (“Cultural Heritage – Guide To The Heritage Listed By The State Of Rio De Janeiro”) (2012)
Published by the Rio de Janeiro State Secretariat of Culture through the state cultural heritage protection agency (INEPAC), this guide lists over 228 processes, bringing the total to around 3,600 protected heritage properties throughout the state.

It is an updated version of the guide brought out in 2005 and demonstrates the importance of the protection of tangible and natural heritage in the state, especially historical town centres, historical routes and cultural landscapes.

The guide also presents the inscription of the historical routes known as the Caminhos das Minas Gerais (“Minas Gerais routes”), including Estrada do Imperador (“Emperor’s Road”) in the Serra do Mar region, cutting through the Atlantic Forest, and natural heritage sites like Morro Dois Irmãos, Pedra da Panela and Pedra do Sal, the last of which is in the Saúde district of Rio de Janeiro near the docks, which is being completely redeveloped with new infrastructure, providing a variety of new employment, housing, transport, culture and leisure options for the local people.

The revitalisation of the dock area includes initiatives to enhance the value of the region’s historical heritage (www.portomaravilha.com.br), which include the building of a new museum Museu de Arte do Rio de Janeiro (MAR), inaugurated in 2013. The same area will soon have another museum, Museu do Amanhã (www.museudoamanha.org.br), scheduled to open its doors later in 2015, whose exhibitions will focus on science and technology. Its design is by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, with 15,000 m2 floor space and landscaped grounds that include a garden, a pool, a cycle path and a leisure area.

The guide also has a section on protected cultural landscapes, one of the most important of which is the urban landscape of Ipanema and Leblon beaches and Leme and Copacabana beaches, with their hallmark black-and-white Portuguese cobblestone promenades designed by landscapist Roberto Burle Marx.  

Belo Horizonte, Ouro Preto And Tiradentes (Minas Gerais State)

Publications, Websites And Portals

Portal Da Inconfidência (2015)
This portal provides a digitalised version of the eighteenth century manuscript, based on the 11 volumes of the Autos da Devassa (records of the Inconfidência uprising) published in the 1970s and 80s by the Official Press of Minas Gerais, considered one of the most important moments in the history of Brazil.

The portal documents every stage of the legal case filed by the Portuguese crown against the conspirators. The accusations of treason and the sentences handed down to the defendants are described in detail, including audio recordings and historical documents. The proceedings of the court that passed judgement on the leaders of the Inconfidência Mineira uprising, originally recorded in a manuscript, can be read and consulted in all their details on the website.

Ouro Preto Heritage Portal (2004)
This website hosted by the Ouro Preto municipal authority through its Department of Heritage and Urban Development aims to publicise actions taken in the municipality to safeguard its cultural heritage, especially through listing and registering such heritage. These actions have targeted the districts that harbour a significant number of cultural archives but which do not enjoy full legal protection or are not widely known by the public.

This portal contains historical information, maps, descriptions, analyses and images, which have been used as inputs for interventions and investments and the effective preservation of the heritage with its specific characteristics.

Ouro Preto was listed in 1966 by the national heritage agency, IPHAN, and in 1980 it was inscribed on the Unesco World Heritage List. Situated 96 kilometres from Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais state, Ouro Preto is something like a living museum. Much of its original eighteenth-century housing still remains intact, constituting the largest collection of baroque architecture in the world, inspired on European models from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

The most important tourist sights are the eighteenth-century churches (the most famous of which is São Francisco church), the opera house, the municipal theatre (the oldest functioning theatre in the Americas) and Praça Tiradentes, the square named after the leader of the Inconfidência Mineira uprising, whose head was displayed there in 1792 to serve as a warning to other potential conspirators of the punishment they could expect from the Portuguese Crown.

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