RIO DE JANEIRO—CONTINUED
The Avenida do Rio Branco, so called since the recent death of the
famous Baron of that name, formerly the Central, is claimed by
Brazilians to be the most beautiful street in the world. Though,
from one or another point of view, other partisans may dispute its
pre-eminence, there is no question as to its splendid construction
and imposing edifices, which for variety and beauty it would be
difficult to match within the same distance in any other city. Every
style of architecture is represented, Moorish, Gothic, Italian,
etc., with varied and lovely coloring. Minarets and towers, unusual
mosaic sidewalks, the welcome shade and friendly green of trees, the
dashing automobiles, fashionable and beautiful women, men from
almost every clime contribute to the wonderful Avenida. Made to
order, so rapidly as to take one’s breath, it is indeed a notable, a
marvellous achievement: begun in 1904, finished in 1906; and not
this only, but the beautiful Beira Mar as well. It seems a
transformation by magic. To mention the various attractive buildings
is impossible. Many banks and important commercial houses may be
found here, buildings of the leading newspapers, the _Jornal do
Comercio_, the _Jornal do Brazil_, the _O Paiz_, and conspicuous
near the south end, the _National Library_ and the _Art Museum_ on
the left, the _Municipal Theater_ on the right, and at the very end
on the right the _Monroe Palace_.
[Illustration:
NATIONAL LIBRARY
]
[Illustration:
SCHOOL OF FINE ARTS
]
The _National Library_, called the most valuable in South America
and, with more than 400,000 catalogued numbers, the largest south of
the equator, is housed in a handsome building of the best modern
equipment. This was designed and constructed by the Mayor, General
Souza Aguiar, after an inspection of the libraries of Europe and
America. It contains its own departments for printing and binding.
The famous Ajuda Collection, which was brought over by Prince João
in 1806, when Napoleon’s army invaded Portugal, was the nucleus.
From the old Carmelite hospital in the rua Primeiro de Março it was
moved to its own quarters in 1810, when it already numbered 60,000
volumes. All schools and periods of typographic art may here be
found, examples of Johann Fust and Peter Schoeffer, Aldins and
Plautius, Ibarras, Elsivers, and many others. A permanent exhibition
has been arranged of Books, Manuscripts and Charts, Engravings and
Prints, Medals and Coins. In the rarity of some of its treasures, if
not in number, the collection compares with the famous ones of
Europe: a perfect copy of the Mazarin Bible printed in 1462, the
first from movable type, the first edition of the New Testament by
Erasmus of Rotterdam, 1514, a Novus Orbis Regionum with map of
Brazil, 1532, a Roycroft Bible, London 1557, and many other
rarities. Among the 300 engravings and prints are works of Dürer,
Cranach, Rubens, etc. With over 100,000 prints and above 30,000
(many rare) numismatic specimens, a treat is afforded to the
specialist.
The reading room, where it should be, on the main floor, is
furnished with comfortable leather-covered armchairs and individual
desks. In the side galleries around the rotunda are arranged in
glass cases many of the especial gems of the rare specimens. In the
great stack rooms, I observed many books in English, noticing the
names of Mark Twain, Macaulay, Dickens, and others. The finest
editions of the various works in handsome bindings seem to have been
selected.
The library is open from ten a.m. to nine p.m. with the usual
exception of Sundays and holidays.
Other libraries which only the specialist will be likely to visit
are the _Fluminense_ with 90,000 volumes, on the Ouvidor, the
_Libraries_ of the _Army_, and of the _Navy_, that of the _Medical
School_ with 70,000 volumes, of the _Polytechnic_ with 70,000, the
_Senate Library_, the _Congressional_, the _Gabinete Portuguez de
Leitura_, occupying a beautiful building in the rua Luis de Camões
near San Francisco Square, the _Commerce Library_ in the Stock
Exchange Building, and others.
Next to the Bibliotheca Nacional on the Avenida is the _Escola de
Bellas Artes_, the Art School and Museum. Again the collection of
Prince João was the nucleus to which many accretions have been made
by Government grant and by private donations. Among original works
of the old masters of various schools which are here to be seen are
canvases of Caracci, Correggio, Greuze, Guido Reni, Jordaens, Lucas,
Murillo, Poussin, Rubens, Snyder, Jan Stein, Teniers, Tintoretto,
Van Dyke, Velasquez, Veronese, Wouvermans, and many others, besides
more than 100 never positively identified. Among fine pieces of
sculpture is one by Rodolpho Bernadelli of _Christ and the
Adulteress_. A large number of productions of Brazilian artists is
also included in the collection, which is said to be the largest and
most important in South America.
Opposite the Fine Arts Museum is the _Municipal Theater_, a splendid
edifice, facing a small triangular park, with one side on the
Avenida.
The theater, like the Colon in Buenos Aires, is fitted up with every
modern improvement, mechanical and electrical devices above and
below the stage, which seems almost as large as the auditorium, with
rows upon rows of floor drops to give the depth desired. A power
plant, an air filtering and cooling plant, and what is called the
most beautiful restaurant in South America, minister to the comfort
of the audience. The restaurant of Assyrian style in details follows
Babylonian originals in the Louvre of Paris. The leather-covered
armchairs in the auditorium, of unusual width and well spaced, are
especially comfortable. The President, of course, is provided with
an elegant box, communicating with private salon and dining-room on
the floor below. Modelled after the Paris Opera House, though a
trifle smaller, it is richly decorated. Designed and built by Dr.
Francisco Oliveira Passos, son of the great Mayor Passos, during
whose administration the grand transformation of the city was
largely effected, the theater was inaugurated in July, 1909, with
Rejane and an all star French company. It is now leased to an
impresario who must produce each year a number of standard plays,
some in Portuguese translation, and some plays by native dramatists,
further encouraging national art by conducting a dramatic school.
Visitors may be admitted at the rear entrance between ten and four
on working days.
At the very end of the Avenue, not far from the Theater and close to
the sea, with open space on every side, stands the _Monroe Palace_,
which at the St. Louis Exposition served as the Brazilian
headquarters, and here, in 1906, as the meeting place for the second
Pan American Congress. It is of a rather florid type of
architecture, the most ornate of the buildings on the Avenue.
The Monroe Palace has one entrance on the Avenida and one on the
opposite side towards the _Passeio Publico_. This most ancient of
the public gardens of Rio, founded in 1783, contains vegetation from
this epoch, hence 130 years old. It has the usual beauties of
tropical parks, trees, shrubbery, flower beds, and vines, also
several statues, and a pretty building, entrance 1 milreis, housing
a collection of native fishes. This _Marine Aquarium_, installed in
1904, has 20 sections with 35 different species; among these, flying
fish, feather fish, turtles, moon fish, crabs, sea-horses, varieties
of lobsters, and of marine plants. A pavilion, affording opportunity
for rest and the purchase of refreshments, supplies also music and
moving pictures. The garden, which is much frequented, was designed
by a native artist, Valentina da Fonseca e Silva, more familiarly
known as _mestre Valentim_. The artistic decoration includes two
statues, Apollo and Mercury, the arms of Luiz de Vasconcellos, then
Viceroy, the bust in the fount of the jacarés, and two granite
pyramids inscribed 1783, _A’ saudade do Rio e Ao Amor do Publico_.
Busts of the poets, Gonçalves Dias, and Castro Alves, and of the
journalist, Ferreira de Aranjo, founder of the _Gazeta de Noticias_,
have been placed in the garden. At the main entrance is a gilded
bronze medallion of Queen Maria and her consort, Dom Pedro III.
Among the important streets running from the Praça 15th of November
across the Avenida, a little north of the Hotel Avenida, are the
Assembléa leading to the Praça da Carioca, a short distance from the
Avenue, and the rua 7th of September leading to the _Praça
Tirandentes_ farther west. The Garden contains an admirable statue,
by the French sculptor Rochel, of Dom Pedro I, founder of the
empire. Continuing in the same direction, one will reach the large
and beautiful _Parque da Republica_, in a Praça or Square of the
same name, of unusual size for a park near the heart of the business
section. Here are woods, lakes, and streams with aquatic birds,
black and white swans, islands and rustic bridges, a grotto with a
pretty cascade, 66,000 varieties of plants, many birds and animals,
and some statuary.
All of the parks are characterized by luxuriant tropical verdure.
On the Praça, south of the Park, is an immense building, the
Firemen’s Barracks.
To the northwest, facing a paved square, is the great _Station_ of
the _Central Railway_, with tracks running into three different
states and to forty or more cities, including São Paulo. Its revenue
is more than $10,000,000 a year. On another side of the Praça facing
the Park is the Senate House, and the _Mint_ with an imposing façade
and some fine ornamentation in bronze. Other buildings on the sides
of the Praça are the Ministry of War, the Barracks, the Normal
School, the Foreign Office, the Law and the Medical Schools, and the
National School of Music.
From the northwest corner of the Park two parallel streets run
westward, the Visconde de Itauna and Senador Eusebio, to the Square
Onze de Junho, whence they continue at the side of the _Canal do
Mangue_, forming a grand boulevard with two rows of royal palms on
each side. This double and channeled avenue has one sharp bend,
turning in the direction of the new docks, where the canal empties
into the harbor. It is a mile and a half in length, has two tracks
for electric cars, paved ways for wagons, and broad asphalt for
automobiles, to which the central stream of water with its massive
stone embankments and the superb rows of palms add an unusual
beauty.
The _Zoological Garden_, admission 1$000 is reached by electrics of
the Villa Isabel line from the Praça 15 de Novembro, a pleasant
ride. Some interesting animals are on view, but if time is limited,
it may be better employed elsewhere.
From the same Square, cars marked São Christovão go to the _National
Museum_ in the _Quinta de Boa Vista_. The Quinta, a fine large park,
deserves a visit, the Aquarium (free) also, even should the Museum
be closed, as has long been the case, for the purpose of extensive
alterations. The Museum, with other objects has a good collection of
archæological and ethnographical specimens. A famous meteorite of
unusual size, named Bendigo, was formerly in the vestibule. The
great building was earlier the winter palace of Dom Pedro II. It has
been proposed to transfer the Zoological Garden to this handsome
park.
The various hills remaining in the center of the city, a few have
been completely leveled, give variety and picturesqueness to its
topography, although interfering somewhat with ease of locomotion
and traffic. Of considerable height and steepness, they are slender,
so that the way around is not over long; thus in the opinion of the
tourist who has an eye for scenic beauty they are not to be
regretted. The energetic person with a little time to spare should
enjoy the ascent of the four hills which are near the Avenida, and
of one or two of those along the Beira Mar. Near the south end of
the Avenue, a little back of the Hotel Avenida, is the _Santo
Antonio_ hill surmounted by a convent of that name. The main
entrance is from the rua 13th of May, in a narrow passage between
the Santa Theresa Tramway Station and the Government Printing Office
on the left. The ancient and massive structure of the _Convent_,
built rather to defy the ravages of time than to excite admiration
for its beauty, has outside walls on the ground floor 4 feet 9
inches in thickness. The vast corridors are poorly lighted. Begun
June 4, 1608, the construction was finished in 1615. The hill,
originally Morro do Carmo, later took its name from the convent. Of
the Franciscan Order, the convent is poor, but the fine sacristy is
worth visiting. Here is antique and artistic furniture, such as is
rarely seen, carved from jacarandá, one of Brazil’s most valuable
woods. Here, too, is a remarkable wainscoting of blue tile,
representing incidents in the life of St. Anthony, paintings on
wood, a staff done in gold and precious stones presented by the
Prince Regent, another from the Governor of Sacramento, now Uruguay,
and other curiosities. In 1855 an imperial decree suspended the
novitiate of religious orders; by 1886 but one member of the
community remained; in 1889, with the establishment of the Republic,
religious liberty was ordained, other friars were admitted, and the
work of restoration began. In a large saloon of the convent is a
stone slab marking the burial place of John Forbes Skellater, native
of Scotland, who served the Kings of Portugal as General and
Councillor, accompanying H. R. H. to Rio de Janeiro, where he died
April 8, 1808, at the age of 76. In an old chapel of the cloisters
is a tomb containing the remains of the Prince Pedro Alfonso, son of
the Emperor, Dom Pedro II. Several pictures by unknown artists
remain from ancient days.
[Illustration:
AVENIDA DO MANGUE
]
The hill on the other side of the Avenue, also south of rua
Assembléa is _Castello_, at the top of which is the Astronomical
Observatory with ruins of an ancient church. The easy climb by a
narrow paved roadway is well worth making for the delightful view
from the summit of the city and harbor below, and the more distant
mountains in the rear.
Near the foot of Castello on the east side, facing the bay on the
Praia de Santa Luzia is _Misericordia Hospital_, largest of the kind
in South America: a great institution with 57 doctors, 88 nurses and
many assistants. In 1910, 12,171 cases were treated besides 154,600
outdoor patients. Among other numerous and notable philanthropic
institutions is the admirable Institute of Protection and Assistance
to Infants, on rua Visconde do Rio Branco 12, founded by Dr.
Moncorvo Jr. in 1901; accomplishing a great work in the surgical and
medical treatment of children and mothers, and in propagating
information as to hygiene. It received a Grand Prize at the
International Exhibition at Rome 1912. Equally if not more
distinguished is the Pathological Institute Oswaldo Cruz, also
founded in 1901. This, outside the city at Maquinhos, reached by
rail or water in 45 minutes, is called the most completely equipped
in the world for such work: the study of disease germs, the
preparation of serums, etc. Its publications number nearly 100. The
smallpox microbe was here discovered.
Near the north end of the Avenida on the same side as the Castello
is the _São Bento_ hill, at the extremity of the rua Primeiro de
Março, the enclosure of the Benedictine Monastery above being
entered by a large gateway at the bottom of a flight of stone steps.
Founded in 1591, the existing church was built between 1633 and
1642; the present monastery was begun in 1652. During the French
invasion in 1711, the buildings were seriously damaged, and the
Order contributed liberally for the French to leave the town. Nearly
half the building was in 1732 destroyed by fire. The property, till
1827 belonging to the Portuguese Congregation, was then transferred
to the newly organized Brazilian Congregation. In 1909 São Bento
became _Abbadia Nullius_, equivalent to an Archbishopric. It had, in
1912, 20 monks in residence and 6 in the Rio Branco Mission to
Indians in the Amazon region. The monastery has, since 1858,
maintained a free school for boys, primary and secondary, with 400
pupils now in attendance, and with 500 in a night school. Lay
professors assist and many distinguished men have here received
their early education. The Order is very wealthy, owning much
property in the middle of the city. It formerly owned the site of
the Marine Arsenal and the Ilha das Cobras, which was purchased in
1589 by the founder of the monastery for 15 milreis, about $5.00. In
the revolt of the Naval Brigade, December, 1910, on the Cobras
Island, the Government forces made use of the monastery, which
suffered seriously from the return fire. The church, rich in carved
and gilded decorations, is worth a visit. It contains some rare
furniture, and an ancient organ valuable only as a relic. The
sacristy and corridors preserve a large number of old paintings. One
of the cells, containing fine specimens of wood work, with a bed
formerly used by D. João VI, is for the especial use of the Papal
Nuncio when he descends for a few days from his residence in
Petropolis. The library of 15,000 volumes comprises many valuable
theological works, both in printing and in manuscript.
On the west side of the Avenue, near the same north end, is the
_Morro da Conceição_, easily ascended from rua Acre by a paved way
with steps. There are many dwellings on this hill, with the _Palace_
of the _Cardinal Archbishop_ at the top. He prefers, however, to
live below in a residence in the rua do Bispo. Offices adjoining the
Cathedral, in the 7th of September street, are used for the official
work. Adjoining the Palace grounds on the hill top is the
_Fortaleza_, built in 1715. Formerly one of the chief points in the
defense of the city it is now used as a barracks for an infantry
regiment. The watch towers, old sentry boxes, and the dungeons are
of interest. The last have been in use, even since the founding of
the Republic, for the imprisonment of political offenders; in
1893-94, British subjects, among others, were here immured. The view
from this hilltop over the city is the most comprehensive to be
obtained from any central point.
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