Things To Do in Belem

One day is likely enough to see all that Belém has to offer. Tip: On Tuesday, entrance is free to all Belém's museums at the fort.

The Círio of Nazaré

Every year in Belém on the second weekend of October more than one million of the faithful gather in the streets to watch and participate in the annual Círio of Nazaré, a procession of an image of the Virgin of Nazaré. The procession has been taking place for more than 200 years, ever since a Belém peasant discovered an image of the Holy Virgin in the forest on the spot where the Basilica of Nazaré now stands. According to legend, the holy nature of the image was revealed when the peasant brought the image back to his hut, only to have it disappear overnight and reappear back on that same spot in the jungle. That original image has now been permanently installed in the nave of the specially built Basilica of Nazaré. Each year a replica image heads a procession of hundreds of thousands of the faithful that travels from the Basilica to the Catédral da Sé and back again.

The procession begins on Saturday with a nautical journey, when the image departs from the beach in the village of Icoaraci and, along with a convoy of colorful floats, arrives around noon at the Estação das Docas. The image then travels to the Catédral da Sé. Sunday morning there's a Mass, and then around 7am the image departs the cathedral and begins its return journey to the Basilica of Nazaré. The 5km (3-mile) procession normally takes all day, with hundreds of thousands of the faithful following. At the end, the Virgin returns to her resting place in the square opposite the basilica, and the participants and onlookers throw themselves into a 3-week harvest festival party.

Other Attractions

Belém's Theatro da Paz (tel. 091/4009-8750; tours every hour Tues-Fri 9am-1pm; admission R$4) is an ornate opera house modeled on Milan's La Scala theater. The inside is a rich assortment of Italian marble and tropical hardwoods, wrought iron, and gold gilt.

Located side by side on the Praça Dom Pedro II are two lovely colonial palaces. Both are worth a glance if you have time on your hands, but don't feel guilty if you miss them. The white neoclassical Palaçio Lauro Sodré used to house the Pará state government, but is now home to the Museu do Estado, Praça Dom Pedro II (tel. 091/3219-1138; Tues-Sat 10am-6pm, Sun 10am-2pm; admission R$2), which displays the former staterooms complete with lovely tropical furnishings. Each room is done in a different ornate style: Art Nouveau, rococo, neoclassical, and so on. Next to the Forte do Belém, the former Church of Santo Alexandre has been converted into a small and eminently missable Sacred Art Museum (Arte Sacra; tel. 091/4009-8802; Tues-Sun 10am-4pm). There's so little on display, in fact, that it's not really worth paying the R$4 admission.

Also located beside the Forte do Belém, the yellow 11-windowed Casa das 11 Janelas, Praça Frei Caetano Brandão s/n (tel. 091/4009-8823; Tues-Sun 10am-6pm; admission R$2), has two floors of contemporary art by Belém painters and sculptors.

Housed in a former hellhole of a prison, the Gem Museum of Pará (Museu de Gemas), Praça Amazonas s/n (tel. 091/3230-4452; admission R$4; Tues-Sat 10am-7pm, Sun 10am-7pm; bus: Igautemi [but take a cab back if you buy jewelry]), is definitely quirky enough to merit a visit. The museum showcases an extraordinary variety of Pará's crystals and gems. Geologists will be in heaven. Those less than rock-happy may find it a tad much. Other cells have been leased to private jewelry companies that show off their original designs.

Architectural Highlights

The Cidade Velha or Old City opposite the Ver-o-Peso Market is a wonderful mixture of Portuguese colonial, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and concrete-and-glass '60s modernism. This promiscuous mixing of architectural styles is the reason Belém's downtown was denied UNESCO World Heritage Site status, though Belenenses protest that the mix of styles makes their historic core all the more intriguing. The most fascinating building is the Paris n' America shop at Rua Gaspar Viana 136. At the height of the rubber boom this was the boutique for haute couture in Belém, the place where wealthy rubber barons would dress their wives and daughters. Fashions were imported from Paris, along with models to show the rather provincial Belém baronesses how the clothes ought to be worn. It's worth traipsing up the sweeping iron staircase to have a look at the still-abandoned second floor.

Churches

The two most important churches in town are the Catédral da Sé, Praça Frei Caetano Brandão (tel. 091/3223-2362; Mon 2-6pm, Tues-Fri 8am-noon and 2-6pm, Sat 5-8:30pm, Sun 7-11am and 5-8:30pm), and the Basilica de Nazaré, Praça Justo Chermont (tel. 091/4009-8400; Mon-Fri 6am-7:30pm, Sat-Sun 6am-noon and 3-9pm). Located on the square opposite the fort, the Catédral da Sé is neglected and rather dilapidated but still gorgeous inside, a mix of baroque and neoclassical with soaring vaulted ceiling and lovely Art Nouveau candelabras. However, the church that Belenenses are most proud of is the Basilica in Nazaré, located on the spot where in the late 17th century a simple caboclo hunter supposedly tripped over an image of the Virgin. It's from here that a replica of that original image sets off on pilgrimage during the yearly Círio of Nazaré. The original image is now permanently ensconced in the wall above the altar. Modeled on St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, the church itself, like much of Belém, is a nouveau riche rehash of things done first and better elsewhere.

Plazas & Parks

The green anchor of Belém's downtown, Praça República, is a lovely three-sided traditional square with plentiful benches and many small patches of grass on which small children play with balls. The current classical configuration of this former military parade ground is the work of Belém's 19th-century rubber barons, who also erected the Theatro da Paz at the Praça's narrow end. Being snobby aristocrats, of course, they also put up a fence to keep the unwashed public out. The fence came down only after rubber prices crashed.

The gardens of the Parque da Residencia, Av. Magalhães Barata 830, corner of Travessa 3 de Maio, used to be part of the official residence of Pará's state governors. The park features fountains, a small orchid arbor, a display space with the governor's old Rolls-Royce, and a good if slightly pricey kilo restaurant, the Restô do Parque (tel. 091/3229-8000; Tues-Sun noon-3:30pm).