Not the Beach

The day we have all been waiting for has finally arrived!  We are going to the beach...  Or so we thought.  After getting all ready in our beach attire and heading downstairs for breakfast, I found out we are not going to the beach, but instead visiting the museum.  Disappointed, I headed back upstairs to change out of my beachwear.  It was actually a blessing in disguise though, as it started pouring at about 2 o'clock.  Professor Reis did say we would go next week though.  Today our first stop was the Forte do Presépio.  This time it was open and we were allowed to walk around the inside of the fort.  Then we went to the Museo de Encontro inside the Forte do Presépio.  There were some really awesome artifacts, including a coin that was 368 years old!  There was also an illustration showing natives cooking human limbs rotisserie style.  It was pretty disturbing.  Unfortunately, all of the explanatory signs were in Portuguese, so we could not read about what we were seeing, but Professor Reis did translate for us when we asked him to.  

Our next stop was to the Conheça o Museu de Arte Sacra e o Ciruito Histórico de Belém.  It was unfortunate that we could not take pictures inside the Museum because it was so gorgeous.  It was an old church, built from 1698-1719, that has been retired from performing masses, although marriages are still performed there.  The structure was built by Indians detained in slavery.  It was composed of stones, clay, and the bonding ingredient, fish oil.  There was one wall of the church left unrefurbished so the clay and stones could be witnessed.  My favorite part of the whole museum was the wood carvings.  They were carved out of red cedar by the enslaved Indians.  In their prime, the carvings were painted with gold leaf.  On of the carvings had gold leaf painted on it still, although it was not the original paint.  I thought the carvings were much more beautiful and genuine without the gold leaf paint.  

During the first decade that Belém was a city, there was a burst of churches built.  The majority of them are now closed and used for various museums.  The center of the city had shifted inland, so the cluster of churches no longer resided the

re.  The Catedral across the street from the Conheça o Museu de Arte Sacra e o Ciruito Histórico de Belém, was the first church to be built in Belém in 1616.  Right now it is under construction.  However, it still remains a beautiful reminder of the Portuguese roots in Belém.