Hot and sweaty central Rio spreads back from Guanabara Bay in a jumbled grid of streets between Santos Dumont airport and the Jesuit Mosteiro São Bento. It dates from 1567, but much of its architectural heritage has been laid waste by successive waves of government intent on wiping out the past in favour of dubious and grandiose visions of Order and Progress. Nevertheless it remains the centre of Rio’s history as well as the city, with some distinguished colonial buildings, Manueline follies and elaborate neoclassical facades huddled together under totalitarian blocks of flats and Le Corbusier-inspired concrete. All watch over a mass of cars and a bustle of people: business suits on lunch, beggars, skateboarders dressed in would-be New York oversized jeans and baseball caps, street performers and opportunists looking to snatch a purse. It can all feel a bit hectic and bewildering. But don’t give up. There is plenty to explore here and a wealth of air- conditioned havens in which to escape for respite and a coffee.
The greatest concentration of historic buildings is in the south of the centre, near Santos Dumont airport and around Praça 15 de Novembro, from where Rio de Janeiro grew in its earliest days. Here you’ll find most of the museums, some of the city’s more beautiful little churches and colonial buildings such as the Paço Imperial and the Palácio Tiradentes. More colonial buildings lie at the centre’s northern extremity around the Morro de São Bento. These include the finest baroque building in Rio, the Mosteiro de São Bento, and the city’s most imposing church, Nossa Senhora da Candelária.
The city’s main artery is the Avenida Presidente Vargas, 4.5 km long and more than 90 m wide, which divides these northern and southern sections. It begins at the waterfront, splits around the Candelária church, then crosses the Avenida Rio Branco in a magnificent straight stretch past the Central do Brasil railway station. Vargas is dissected by two important arterial streets. Avenida Rio Branco, nearest to the sea, was once lined with splendid ornate buildings, which were quite the equal of any in Buenos Aires. These have largely been razed to the ground but a few remain around Cinelândia. Avenida 31 Março, further to the west beyond the railway station, leads to the Sambódromo and the Carnaval district. Some of the better modern architecture is to be found along Avenida República do Chile, including the conical 1960s Catedral Metropolitana de São Sebastião....
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