Old houses
German settlers' legacy.
Viviane Lauck — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Tupac2pacshakur — CC BY-SA 4.0 · EliasTheHorse — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Claitonmedina — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Claitonmedina — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Gustavo Cordeiro Moraes — CC BY-SA 4.0
Hamburgo Velho, «Old Hamburg», is the historic centre of Novo Hamburgo, north of Porto Alegre, and the core around which the city grew. German immigrants began settling the area in 1824, and at a crossroads of two traders' routes a village grew up known as «Hamburger Berg», the hill of the Hamburg folk. In the 1870s the railway station was built three kilometres away, and a new town grew around it to become today's city centre; when Novo Hamburgo became a municipality in 1927, the old village took the name Hamburgo Velho. Its fading importance helped preserve many of its buildings, so it keeps a significant architectural legacy of the German settlement era, including the Schmitt-Presser house, now a community museum. The historic centre was declared a special preservation area in 2004 and listed by the national heritage institute in 2015. It is best explored on foot among its old houses and streets, and pairs well with the city's National Footwear Museum.
German settlers' legacy.
A community museum.
Quiet streets.
Hamburgo Velho district, Novo Hamburgo, Rio Grande do Sul
By the metropolitan train or by car in under an hour.