The Palace, the Square and the Hill

At the intersection of Misericórdia Street and Direita Street there was a plot of land that was made into a square, the Praça XV. The size of the old Largo do Carmo (Carmo Square) was much larger than it is today: it was as wide as the distance between São José Church and Arco do Teles (Teles Arch), and as deep as the façade of Paço Imperial (Imperial Palace). When part of the Guanabara Bay was covered with landfills, the harbor expanded as far as the front line of Master Valentim Fountain. From the 16th century on wards, the main religious orders built churches and schools, connecting them to the Morro do Castelo (Castle hill), where the Jesuits were based, in the São Bento Monastery. At the same period, developers built terraced houses or two-story houses in very narrow pieces of land.In the 18th century, several prominent secular buildings were erected, and they are still situated at Praça XV: Paço Real and Arco do Teles, which housed several small merchants’ shops. Next door to the Paço, there was the Old Prison, where conspirator Joaquim José da Silva Xavier, also know as Tiradentes, was kept before being hanged in 1792.When the Castelo hill lost its political and geographic role, Praça XV became the city and the country’s center. Particularly when the headquarters of the Vice royalty moved from Salvador to Rio, in 1763, positioning Rio’s port on the Colonial Production route.Governor Gomes Freire undertook major renovation works, turning the buildings that housed the Mint and the Royal Farm warehouse into residential homes for governors and viceroys. That was when Paço Square was created in 1743.Under the administration of viceroy Dom Luís de Vasconcelos e Souza (1779-1790),more works were undertaken near the sea. The old fountain was replaced with a new one designed by Master Valentim, in the new harbor.With the arrival of the Portuguese Royal Family and its court in Brazil, in 1808, the square became the center of power. Dom João and his family moved to Paço, now a Royal palace and a square, and his most important subjects were housed nearby.This is also the place where Emperors Dom Pedro I and Dom Pedro II took upresidence. The building gained three walkways: connecting the palace to the prison,which was used as servants’ quarters; to the Carmo Covent; and, in 1856, from the Convent to the Royal Chapel. On the dawn of Brazil’s independence, in January 1822, Dom Pedro made his famous “Dia do Fico” speech from one of the palace windows. It was there alsowhere Princess Isabel signed the Golden Law, abolishing slavery in Brazil.In 1870, the old Largo do Carmo was renamed Pedro II. With the proclamation of the Republic, on 15th November 1889, the name changed again to Praça XV de Novembro (15th November Square) to commemorate the beginning of the new political regime.For a period during the Republican era, the Paço building was the headquarters ofthe Brazilian Mail and Telegraph company, and later it became the Paço Imperial cultural center, where this exhibition is currently being shown.

The city of Rio de Janeiro was founded in 1565, at the foot of the Cara de Cão Hill(presently Urca). Two years later, the city center moved to the top of the Castelo Hill. After expelling the French, the Tupinambás and their allies from the region commander Mem de Sá, General-Governor of Brazil, chose a strategic point from which it was possible to view the bar entrance and the Guanabara Bay. It was initially called Descanso Hill. On top of the hill, the governor commissioned the construction of public buildings made of stone and lime: the warehouse of the Royal Farm, the City Council’s headquarters, Sé Church and São Sebastião Church, and a prison.The Portuguese troops were represented by the Company of Jesus Church, run by the priests José de Anchieta and Manuel da Nóbrega, who erected the city’s first school and a residential house. Soon the hill would shelter another church under the protection of Saint Inácio de Loyola. Boasting a winding shape and standing at 63 meters high, the hill occupied an area of 184,800 square meters. A wall was built to protect it, as well as the São Januário Fortress. At that time, the hill changed its name to São Januário. Its most popular name Castelo (Castle) also relates to its fortification.There were three slopes: Misericórdia Slope, of which there is still a section left,next to Bonsucesso Church; Poço do Porteiro Slope (which was previously named Old Sé Slope and Colégio Slope, after the construction of São José Seminary),where the back of the Fine Arts Museum is currently situated; the Castelo Slopewas situated where the car park building is situated today.After the Jesuits were expelled in 1759, the school was turned into a military hospital. The National Observatory was installed over the foundation of an unbuilt church. There was a signal post for vessels entering the port, which would later bereplaced with the telegraph.From the 17th century onwards, the historical hill lost its political and geographic importance. The new center became the area around Praça XV, where there was a growing commercial trade and where the new House of Governors was inaugurated in 1743.With the excuse to better ventilate and expand the city, freeing it from disease, the Castelo Hill met a cruel end. During the construction of Rio Branco Avenue, initiated in 1904, one part of the hill was destroyed. In 1920, the complete demolition began. In November 1922, the church and school, which formed the Jesuit complex, disappeared. Four thousand people were left homeless. In its place, it was erected the Esplanada do Castelo, where the Exhibition for the Centennial of Brazil’s Independence took place, with the rubble of the hill still visible. At the end of the 1920s, the complete removal of the remaining remnants of the old Castelo Hill was concluded, leaving the area completely open where several landmarks of modern architecture would be built, such as the building of the Ministry of Education and Health, and the Ministry of Finance and Work, which became known as the modern esplanade of ministries of the formal capital of the republic.

"The Misericórida Slope lies on a steep slope, with its rundown weathered-beaten houses, with its uneven walkways that make it easy to trip over and fall. Further up, atan earlier stage, there was a small square with its own church and the austere façade of the São Zacarias Hospital, which provided a place for pilgrims to rest. Nevertheless, one could not walk down the road and over the grass that covered the downward slope,because it was so full of debris despicably thrown there by the neighboring residents."Théo Filho, Ídolos de barro, 1924 "What is so impressive to those who climb up those steep slopes and rough hill sides is the series of thick, solid walls, supporting walls, ancient strongholds, some two or three centuries old, and on which the houses are built; manor houses that desperately destitute local dwellers have been transformed into simple homes with rooms to sublet, palaces cut up into smaller compartments, many of them with sections exhibiting divisions of burlap or a wooden divider lined with paper, with no air or light, and where countless families promiscuously gather to sleep;" Luiz Edmundo, O Rio de Janeiro do Meu Tempo, 1938

"Many years ago a traveler arrived here, and we became acquainted. One night we spoke about the city and its history; he expressed a desire to see some old architecture. Imentioned various; amongst them the church of Castelo and its altars. We set off the following day I would pick him up and climb up the Castelo Hill. It was a beautiful morning, I’m not sure if it was in winter or spring. We went up. To cheer him up I described the time when the Jesuit priests would climb up the same path, the small city,the simple customs, the grand and sincere devotion. We reached the top, the church was open and so we entered. I know it’s no ancient ruins of Athens; but you often show what you possess. The traveler entered, took a look around, left and stood by the wall,gazing at the sea, the sky, the mountains, and after five minutes: “What nature you have!”" Machado de Assis, revista A semana, 20/08/1893"I believe in them. When I was alive I was a friend of money, but it had to have mystery.The grand riches left in the Castelo Hill by the Jesuits was one of my childhood and youth belief; it accompanied me in my death and I still have it till this day. I lost my health, my illusions, my friends and even my money; but I have never lost my belief in the treasures of the Castelo Hill." Machado de Assis, revista A semana, 12/02/1893

"... the city was born on the Castelo Hill, where the first church was erected, the first school was founded, where its founder, Estácio, was buried (...). In addition to that engendering function, itself sufficient enough to consecrate the hill, the Castelo Hill precisely because of the abandonment in which they left it and because of its proximity to Central Avenue is the largest pearl of the marvelous the Carioca pearl necklace.... Now a refrain sounds insistently: we need to destroy the Castelo Hill!" Monteiro Lobato, Urupês, 1920"The Hill know it is condemned (…) it perceives that it has turned into a business, that the real treasure hidden in its depths is not the image of Saint Inácio in solid gold and yes the (….) demolition, and it refuses to accept that the end is near. Men today are negotiators without souls. They want money. To obtain it, they are willing to sell anything, they would even sell their souls if they could. How can it resist the tide, if his credentials — ancient, beautiful, picturesque, historicalness — aren’t these prices of the stock exchange?" Monteiro Lobato, Não arrasem o morro do Castelo, 1920