São Marcelo Fort in Salvador da Bahia

26 October 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  10 minutes

© JLPizzol/cc-by-sa-4.0

© JLPizzol/cc-by-sa-4.0

São Marcelo Fort (Portuguese: Forte São Marcelo), also known as Forte de Nossa Senhora do Pópulo e São Marcelo or Forte do Mar, is located in Salvador in Bahia, Brazil. It is located in small bit of land off the coast in the Baía de Todos os Santos. Standing on a small bank of reefs about 300 metres (980 ft) from the coast, it is one of two forts separated by water from land in Brazil, the other being the Fort Tamandaré da Laje Tamandaré in Rio de Janeiro. It is the only cylindrical fort in Brazil. Its design follows those of Castel Sant’Angelo in Italy and Fort of São Lourenço do Bugio in Portugal. It is popularly known as the “Forte do Mar” (Fort of the Sea). It was built to protect the important port city Salvador from threats; the city had the largest number of forts during the colonial period of Brazil. The São Marcelo Fort was listed as a historic structure by the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage (IPHAN) in 1938. The fort is closed to the public due to construction works. It opened to the public in 2006 after a long period of restoration, but closed again in 2018.   read more…

Salvador da Bahia

10 March 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  7 minutes

Elevador Lacerda © flickr.com - elicrisko/cc-by-2.0

Elevador Lacerda © flickr.com – elicrisko/cc-by-2.0

Salvador (historic name: São Salvador da Bahia de Todos os Santos, in English: “City of the Holy Saviour of the Bay of all Saints”) is the largest city on the northeast coast of Brazil and the capital of the Northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia. A particularly notable feature is the escarpment that divides Salvador into the Cidade Alta (“Upper Town” – rest of the city) and the Cidade Baixa (“Lower Town” – northwest region of the city), the former some 85 m (279 ft) above the latter, with the city’s cathedral and most administrative buildings standing on the higher ground. An elevator (the first installed in Brazil), known as Elevador Lacerda, has connected the two sections since 1873, having since undergone several upgrades.   read more…

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