Pinacoteca do Ceará
Art museum.
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The Estação das Artes Belchior cultural complex, known as the Estação das Artes, covers 67,000 square metres in Fortaleza's historic centre, occupying the old Professor João Felipe railway station, whose story is bound up with the history of the railways in Ceará. The station's foundation stone was laid in 1873, but work only began in 1879, largely by people fleeing the 1877 drought, and it opened on 9 June 1880; Ceará's first locomotive came from Leeds in England. The station took the name of the engineer João Felipe in 1946 and closed in 2014 for metro works. The single-storey building dominates the station square, with a central facade of columns, a triangular pediment and a stairway, and round-arched windows. Today the complex holds the Pinacoteca do Ceará, an art museum opened in December 2022 to keep the state government's collection, and a market of local food, and it bears the name of the singer Belchior, a son of the state. Check opening times.
Art museum.
Columned facade.
Local flavours.
Station square, historic centre of Fortaleza
Passeio Público (Praça dos Mártires)The Praça dos Mártires, known as the Passeio Público, is the oldest square in Fo5 minutes walk4.7
Mercado Central, FortalezaThe Mercado Central is Fortaleza's biggest handicraft market, in the city centre8 minutes walk4.3
Theatro José de AlencarThe Theatro José de Alencar is the most beautiful of Fortaleza's historic buildi9 minutes walk4.6
Palácio da Luz (Fortaleza)The Palácio da Luz is a historic building in central Fortaleza that was the seat9 minutes walk4.6
Dragão do Mar Centre of Art and CultureThe Dragão do Mar Centre is a large cultural complex of 30,000 square metres in 13 minutes walk4.4The Pinacoteca do Ceará art museum and a local food market, in the old railway station.