Pinacoteca São Paulo
The word “pinakothek” came to us from Ancient Greece and means “storage of paintings”. In Sao Paulo, on the territory of this museum, there is a collection of sculptures and paintings by Brazilian and European masters. Among them are Auguste Rodin, Antonio Barrera and others.
The foundation date of the institution is considered to be 1905 — we can say that this is the oldest art museum in Sao Paulo. There used to be an art school in the building. The exhibition consists of more than ten thousand sculptures and paintings. Temporary exhibitions are usually held on the ground floor. The permanent exhibition is located on the second level.
Mostly you can admire academic art (Almeida Juniors, Pedro Alexandrino), but there are also modernist works (Anita Malfatti, Lasar Segal and others). Of particular interest is the Tactile Gallery, organized for visually impaired people.
Paulista Museum
One of the main attractions of the largest Brazilian city, and indeed the country as a whole, can be called the Paulista Museum, or Ipiranga (the name of the river) in another way. When Brazil finally gained independence in 1822, the idea arose to erect a monument in honor of this outstanding event.
This is how the historical museum appeared, which is now part of the ensemble of the huge Independence Park. The building is built in the eclectic style. The fund has more than 100 thousand exhibits. It is based on ancient books and documents, costumes and accessories, paintings and sculptures. The “highlight” of the collection was the painting “Independence or death”.
The Museum of Sacred Art
The Jesuits founded Sao Paulo in order to convert South American Indians to Catholicism — religion in this city, and indeed in Brazil, occupies a central place. Once there was a monastery of Peace in this building (founded in 1774), but since 1970 a museum has been opened there.
There are not many exhibits in it, but the selection is very unusual. The building itself can also be called a unique architectural monument — it is the only preserved building in the colonial style of the XVIII century in Sao Paulo. In 1943, it was awarded the status of a national architectural monument.
In the Museum of Sacred Art you can see:
- paintings on a religious theme,
- altarpiece statues,
- images of saints,
- papal coins,
- silverware,
- furniture, fragments of the altar.
Especially interesting is the collection of figurines of the Virgin Mary and Joseph the Betrothed from different countries of the world, how different peoples depict them in different ways. The museum has a rich library and a collection of rare books.