Tiled façades
Blue, white and yellow.
Alan Rodrigues — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Prburley — CC BY 4.0 · Prburley — CC BY 4.0 · Prburley — CC BY 4.0
The historic centre of São Luís, capital of Maranhão, is one of Brazil's largest colonial ensembles: some four thousand buildings of the 18th and 19th centuries over 220 hectares, part of which became a World Heritage Site in 1997. The French founded the city in 1612; the Portuguese took it back three years later, and the engineer Frias de Mesquita laid out its streets on a regular grid, so that it has been called the most Portuguese city in Brazil. Its best-known feature is the houses clad in coloured azulejo tiles, used to protect the walls from tropical heat and damp, turning the façades into panels of blue, white and yellow. The large townhouses, the sobrados, kept the ground floor for trade and the upper floors for the family. The thing to do is walk the streets of the old Praia Grande district, among squares, museums and craft shops. The stone slopes can be slippery and the sun is strong, so bring a hat and water.
Blue, white and yellow.
The old heart.
Shop and home.
Praia Grande and central São Luís, São Luís Island, Maranhão
Azulejo tiles were used to protect the walls from tropical heat and damp, and the coloured façades became the city's signature.
