The suspended walkways
Between the two wings.
Theo Wiederspahn — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Silfeb — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Silfeb — CC BY-SA 4.0
The Casa de Cultura Mario Quintana fills the former Hotel Majestic, the grandest hotel in Porto Alegre from the 1930s to the 1950s, whose guests included presidents Getúlio Vargas and João Goulart. Designed by the German-Brazilian architect Theodor Wiederspahn and built between 1916 and 1933, it was the city's first large reinforced-concrete building, and its two wings stand on either side of a passage, joined by walkways that cross above it, an idea unheard of in Brazil at the time. As the area declined the hotel took in long-term residents, among them the poet Mario Quintana, who lived in room 217 from 1968 to 1980. The state bought the building in 1982 and it reopened as a cultural centre named after him on 25 September 1990. Today it holds libraries, galleries, theatres, three cinemas and cafés, and on the sixth floor the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rio Grande do Sul. Do not miss the José Lutzenberger garden on the fifth-floor terrace, planted in 2002 and decorated with bathtubs and vases from the old hotel.
Between the two wings.
With the old hotel's bathtubs.
On the sixth floor.
Rua dos Andradas 736, historic centre, Porto Alegre
Rio Grande do Sul Museum of Art (MARGS)The Rio Grande do Sul Museum of Art, MARGS, holds the largest public collection 4 minutes walk4.8
Porto Alegre Public MarketThe Public Market is Porto Alegre's oldest market and one of its best-loved meet9 minutes walk4.6
Orla do Guaíba (Guaíba Waterfront)The Orla do Guaíba, officially Parque Jaime Lerner after the urbanist whose offi12 minutes walk4.8
Farroupilha Park (Redenção)Farroupilha Park, which everyone in Porto Alegre calls Redenção, is the city's m24 minutes walk4.7One of Brazil's great poets; he lived in room 217 of the Hotel Majestic from 1968 to 1980, and the centre bears his name.