Palacete Gentil Braga

About this place

The Gentil Braga Mansion is a listed building in the historic centre of São Luís, capital of Maranhão, on «Rua Grande», the high street, near Praça Deodoro, also known as the «Palacete do Canto da Viração». It was built in the early 19th century, around 1820, with «colonial» features and later absorbed other influences to become eclectic; it is famous for its façade of Portuguese glazed tiles, for which all of São Luís is known. The mansion was home to Gentil Braga, a leading poet and writer of Maranhão literature, and before him to John Hesket, the first English vice-consul in Maranhão in 1808. It hosted literary soirées and gatherings attended by the state's great writers, such as Odorico Mendes, Gonçalves Dias, Sousândrade and João Lisboa, in the days when São Luís was called the «Brazilian Athens». The mansion was restored in a joint project of the national heritage institute and the Federal University of Maranhão; it now houses the university's cultural affairs department and hosts exhibitions and events. See it on a walk through the historic centre, and ask about events inside.