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Rio De Janeiro - Culture |
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Rio de Janeiro has several cinemas, with varied characteristics regarding programs and facilities. Many of the several museums in Rio, with varied collections, belong to companies or are located inside libraries. Rio
de Janeiro has many parks, squares and gardens, with varied
characteristics. Going to the beach is a major program in Rio, appreciated
by most "cariocas". The beach is not only a place for swimming
or sun-bathing: it's a place for meeting friends and for practicing
sports. In Rio, people go to the beach even in winter and in cloudy days
and several people stay there until the night comes. Many of our photos
have been shot in winter and in heavily clouded days. Practicing sports is
important and stimulated by the government and by private companies.
Several beaches have special illumination poles that allow football
and volleyball matches in the sand at night. In Arpoador beach
there's special illumination towards the sea, for the practice of surf.
The cycling lane offers an automobile-free space for cyclists and roller-bladders.
Some companies have installed gymnastic equipment in the sand: advertising
with social profit. Rio de Janeiro has many buildings of historic
importance, but not all of them are in good conditions. Some have been
used by government entities for several years and this is so deeply
engraved in the people's memory that very few remember the original
function of those buildings. The use of architectonic monuments by
bureaucratic organisms has been marked in the destruction of our historic
inheritance. National
library organized by the
king of Portugal, D. José, as a substitute to the "Real
Bibliotheca", destroyed in a fire in 1755. The "Livraria"
was brought by D. João VI to Brazil in 1808 and, after
independence, it was bought and paid by the Brazilian Empire to Portugal -
according to "Convenção Adicional ao Tratado de Paz e Amizade".
After having had several addresses, its head-office was moved to its
actual address on October 29th., 1910. 8 million pieces were counted in
1990, of varied subjects. It has books, newspapers, manuscripts etc. of
both national and foreign writers. The Legal Deposit Decree , which
determines that a copy of every work printed in Brazil is sent to the
National Library, contributes to its permanent growth.
Carnival
almost disappeared from Europe, where this partu has already been very
important in several places. The Portuguese carnival, which has been taken
to its colonies (including Brazil) has always been very different from
carnival in other European countries, being recognized even by Portuguese
authors as a party whose main characteristics were dirt and violence. Carnival
was started in Brazil in 1723, with the migration coming from the
Portuguese islands of Madeira, Açores and Cabo Verde. The carnival
commemorations, called Entrudo (word of latin origin meaning
"entrance"), were similar to the ones which happened in Portugal
- described by the Brazilian-Portuguese Encyclopædia: "Everywhere
along the streets there was a true fight where the weapons were eggs, or
their shells filled with flour or plaster, cartridges of gum powder, wax
bottles filled with perfumed water, lupines, glass or card tubes used to
blow violently, corn and beans which were poured on the heads of those
passing by. There were also gloves filled with sand thrown on hats of
careless people and oranges, tangerines and even cakes. In several
districts people threw to the streets, or from one window to another, old
pans and pots which were no longer being used, as it was later done in the
last day of the year, showing the intention of putting an end to all old
things in the house. In the old Portuguese entrudos people also used
hitting others with brooms, wooden spoons etc.." The
French artist Debret has depicted images of Entrudo in Rio de Janeiro,
very similar to the scenes described above. In
1840 the first Carnival Ball happened. A traditional masks shop imported masks and fake
moustaches and beards to help making the fancy clothes. In
1852 the Zé Pereira appeared, a group of drums leaded by the
shoesmith José Nogueira de Azevedo Paredes, who strolled along the city
streets, making fun during Carnival. Next came other instruments, like
"cuícas", tambourines and "pandeiros". In
1855 the first big carnival clubs were born: the Big Societies .
These clubs did not gather just for carnival, but also for civic reasons.
With their organization and allegoric cars, they were the precursors of
today's organized Carnival. By that time, Carnival still had a very
European style, which gradually evolved and became more Brazilian.
In
1907 the Corso was
born, a parade of automobiles which became one of the main attractions of
Rio's carnival during the first decades of the 20th. century. The
"cordões" and "blocos" gave birth to the
samba-schools, which still exist. The first of them, founded in 1928 in
the district called Estácio, was named Deixa Falar (which means
"Let them talk"). The first parade, still extra-official,
happened in 1932; the first official parade dates from 1935 and happened
in Praca Onze, a traditional point of concentration for "blocos"
and "cordões". With the city's urban evolution, Praça
Onze was destroyed for building Av. Presidente Vargas and the parade was
moved several times until 1984, when the creation of Passarela do Samba offered them a definitive place. For
3 decades the samba-schools parades happened spontaneously: only in 1963
the first arquibancadas were built and its places were sold to the
audience, at Av. Presidente Vargas. Today, the parade is very valuable and
disputed: besides the tickets, also the rights for radio and TV
transmission, records etc. are sold. In the place today known as Praça Onze, next to the place where that square used to be, RioTur has built the Terreirao do Samba, a space where several alternative happenings take place, for those who can not afford Passarela do Samba. |
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Rio
today has a
population of about 11 million people. Rio is the second largest city of
Brazil on the Atlantic Coast about 200 miles (320 KM) west of Sao Paulo
(5th largest city in the world). The mix of ocean, mountain and trees make
Rio one of the most beautiful cities in the world Shopping centres
are
no longer just big commercial centres, they're also leisure centres Many
promote cultural events that, together with several theatres, cinemas and
Carnival
