Paço Imperial
Colonial palace on Praça XV, seat of Portuguese and Brazilian rulers, now a free cultural centre.
Begun in the 1730s and completed around 1743 under the military engineer José Fernandes Pinto Alpoim, the building started life as the residence of the colonial governors and the royal customs house on Rio's waterfront. When the Portuguese court fled to Brazil in 1808 it became the town palace of Dom João VI, and it later served the emperors Pedro I and Pedro II as a working palace rather than a home. Its plain whitewashed façades and heavy stone doorways are typical of eighteenth-century Portuguese colonial building.
Several turning points in Brazilian history took place here, among them the Dia do Fico in January 1822 and the signing of the Golden Law abolishing slavery in May 1888. The palace later housed the central post office and telegraph service and fell into decline before a long restoration; it opened as a cultural centre in 1985. Today it holds free temporary exhibitions of visual art, architecture and design across a dozen rooms and two courtyards, with a library, bookshop and restaurants.
Highlights
- Eighteenth-century colonial palace facing Praça XV de Novembro
- Site of the Dia do Fico and the 1888 abolition of slavery
- Free changing exhibitions across twelve rooms and two courtyards
- Listed by IPHAN and restored as a cultural centre in 1985
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