Azulejo panels
Portuguese tiles.
Halley Pacheco de Oliveira — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Halley Pacheco de Oliveira — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Ministério da Cultura — CC BY 2.0 · Halley Pacheco de Oliveira — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Halley Pacheco de Oliveira — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Halley Pacheco de Oliveira — CC BY-SA 3.0
The Museu do Açude, one of the «Castro Maya Museums», is an old estate turned museum in the Alto da Boa Vista district, the only museum inside the Tijuca Forest, one of the world's largest urban forests, set in more than 151,000 square metres of gardens and woodland. The businessman and collector Raymundo Ottoni de Castro Maya bought the property in 1913, remodelled it in the 1920s, and it became a museum in 1964. Its collection falls into three main groups: Oriental art, with sculpture, porcelain and «East India Company» ware; applied arts, with Brazilian colonial furniture, English silver and French crystal from the 17th to 19th centuries; and tiles, mostly Portuguese «azulejo» panels. The main house recreates the kitchen and dining room as they once were, and other galleries cover Castro Maya's life and a collection of lithographic stones. Its finest feature is the broad gardens in the heart of the forest, where contemporary art is shown. The museum usually closes on Tuesdays and charges a token fee, so check times, and pair it with a visit to the Tijuca Forest and its waterfalls.
Portuguese tiles.
Deep in the forest.
East India Company.
Estrada do Açude 764, Alto da Boa Vista, Rio de Janeiro
Inside the Tijuca Forest in Rio's Alto da Boa Vista district, the only museum in the forest.
