Gun emplacements
At the bay's mouth.
Halley Pacheco de Oliveira — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Renilda Severini — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Renilda Severini — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Renilda Severini — CC BY-SA 4.0
The Fortress of Santa Cruz da Barra guards the eastern side of the entrance to Guanabara Bay and, with the forts on the opposite shore, was the main defence of the bay and of Rio de Janeiro and its port in colonial and imperial times. A gun battery was set up here in 1584 and in 1599 drove off a Dutch squadron under Olivier van Noort; by 1612 it had twenty guns and took its present name. Still a working barracks, home to the 1st Army Division's artillery, it can only be visited on guided tours, which pass gun emplacements, old cells cut into the living rock and lookouts over the bay to Rio on the far side. Around 3,500 people visit each month. Tickets cost a few reais, children and older visitors go free, and tours run Tuesday to Sunday.
At the bay's mouth.
From the 1600s.
Across the bay.
Jurujuba, Niterói
No. It is a working army base and can only be visited on guided tours, Tuesday to Sunday.