Cell shops
Pernambuco crafts.
MTur Destinos — Public domain · Alberto.. — CC BY 2.0 · MTur Destinos — Public domain
The Casa da Cultura is Recife's biggest crafts centre, set in the former House of Detention, the largest prison in 19th-century Brazil and the first radial panopticon jail in South America. Designed by the engineer José Mamede Alves Ferreira, it opened in 1855 and was completed in 1867: a cross-shaped neoclassical building whose cell wings could all be watched from a central hall. The prison closed in 1973 after a dark history that included the years of the military dictatorship. The idea of turning it into a cultural centre came from the artist Francisco Brennand, the architect Lina Bo Bardi drew up the restoration, and it reopened as the Casa da Cultura in 1976. Today the old cells are small shops selling the crafts of Pernambuco: woodcut prints, cloth dolls, hammocks and ceramics.
Pernambuco crafts.
Hub of the radial jail.
Gifts from Recife.
Cais da Detenção, Santo Antônio, Recife
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