Cultural Life
LITTLE AFRICA TOUR
On Saturday, the 15th of July at 10 am, a tour guide is preparing a special walking tour with ServDes.2023 participants to visit Little Africa, places in Rio historically linked to African heritage from the (sad) slavery time in Brazil.
The tour is organised by Florencios Tour and has a cost of R$ 99,00 per person (paid to the organiser).
Find below the itinerary and link to register:
Museum of History and African-Brazilian Culture (MUHCAB)
The MUHCAB is a museum of territory – located in Little Africa, with the Valongo Wharf, a World Heritage Site, as its ground zero. The museum intends to tell the story of the region that witnessed the largest landing of enslaved Africans in the world, important milestones of black affirmation in Brazil, and the development of Afro-Brazilian cultural identity.
The Museum cover the arrival of enslaved Africans at Cais do Valongo, the slave period, the pre-and post-abolition, to contemporary days, passing through relevant historical, social, cultural, artistic, and religious factors linked to black culture.
Instituto Pretos Novos (IPN) Archaeological Site
A Memorial to the Newly arrived African enslaved in Rio. Those who arrived between the mid-eighteenth and late nineteenth century.
Valongo Quayside – A UNESCO World Archaeological Heritage Site
During Rio de Janeiro’s undergoing large-scale urban transformations in preparation for Rio’s 2016 Summer Olympics games, the port zone had been revitalized, and archaeological diggings recovered evidence of its past. Moreover, some of the major findings have been in the subsoil of one of the area’s main squares, the stone structures of the Valongo Quayside, the busiest slave port in the Americas in the 19th.
Valongo Quayside Archaeological World Heritage Site not only represents the main African enslaved arrival port throughout the Americas – it is an emblematic place of the African diaspora and the world slavery route.
Pedro II Docks Warehouse
Also known as André Rebolças Docks. Built between 1871 and 1876 by the Afro-Brazilian engineer André Rebouças (1838-1898). In fact, the building was meant to be a railway station to increase coffee exports.
Pedra do Sal (Salt’ Stone) – Rio’s State Cultural Heritage
Pedra do Sal is a historical and religious monument; it’s the birthplace of samba and Carnival in Rio.
Pedra do Sal Prainha Square
One of the slave markets places of the region Valongo, mina slaves, and later hostesses the Zungus houses (The mush houses) were true urban quilombos (Morrons), in cities where black people used to make their drums, their dances, and revered their deities.
Moreover, at Largo da Prainha you will see the statue of Mercedes Baptista, the very first statue of a black woman in Rio. Mercedes Batista was the first Afro-Brazilian dancer to be part of the ballet group at the renowned Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro in the late 1940s.
At Largo da Prainha, you’ll find a small restaurant with authentic Brazilian food, drinks, appetizers, and snacks.
End of Rio Little Africa Tour
Other Experiences
Rio de Janeiro has an outstanding amount of cultural, gastronomical and natural experiences to be explored. Below we share a small selection of places that burst with “carioca” energy:
To know about other places to experience in Rio, please VISIT HERE.