O Rio Em Movimento Celebrates Rio’s Changing Landscape

By Chesney Hearst, Senior Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Opened on October 15th in the Arquivo Nacional (National Archives) located in the Centro neighborhood of the city, a new exhibition, O Rio em movimento: cidade natural, cidade construção (The movement in Rio: Natural city, city of construction) showcases the evolution of Rio de Janeiro’s urban landscape.

The exhibition is part of the ongoing celebrations of Rio’s 450th anniversary and features rare books, photographs, maps, building and city plans, film stills, engravings, and lithographs of the city’s downtown, Centro district. All of the exhibition’s pieces were created between Brazil’s colonial period and the late 1970s.

“The idea was to take a different approach from our collection, focusing on urban transformations in the central area, showing Rio as a city always on the move,” curator Renata William do Vale told Agência Brasil. “The historic center was formed by the occupation of four hills – Castelo, Santo Antonio, São Bento and Conceição – but the creation of the Cidade Baixa (lower city) was only possible with the landfill lakes and ponds.”

The pieces of the exhibition were selected from the archives of the now defunct Correio da Manhã newspaper; the private archives of Hélio de Brito, the engineer responsible for Avenida Presidente Vargas; and from Júlio, Luciano and Gilberto Ferrez and their records of the demolition of morro do Castelo (Castelo hill). The rare books on display as part of the exhibition feature photographs, lithographs, urban plans, maps, and engravings produced by both Cariocas (Rio residents) and visitors to the city.

Free to the public, the Rio em movimento exhibition will run through March 2016, with the closing date set to coincide with the end of the city’s 450th anniversary celebrations.

What: O Rio em movimento: cidade natural, cidade construção
When: Mondays through Fridays, 9AM to 6PM.
Where: Arquivo Nacional, Praça da República, 173 – Centro
Entrance: FREE