Rio Negro Palace (Palácio Rio Negro)
Avenida Sete de Setembro 1546, Centro, Manaus, Amazonas
Built during the “Rubber Boom” of the early 1900s, the Rio Negro Palace began life as a grand mansion home, and became the seat of local governance, before becoming a local cultural center open to the public in 1997. Now it houses an art gallery and a museum, with performance spaces for local productions all under one ornate roof.
Today, you can step inside the yellow-brick mansion and examine the exhibits of the palace’s museum and gallery halls. This is in spite of it also being an official summer residence of the President of Brazil. As well as a gallery of modern art, the Rio Negro Palace has a coin museum and The stately home is also periodically used as a performance space for dance and theatre productions.. Private tours are also available, where you can learn in more detail the intricacies of the décor and architectural design.
The Rio Negro Palace is free to enter and there are no ticket requirements
The gardens surrounding the palace are also well worth a look
It doesn’t take long to see everything in the palace—set aside an hour
The Rio Negro Palace is in Petrópolis, a city inland from Rio de Janeiro. It takes around two hours to reach Petrópolis by bus—the Unica 151 can get you there directly—and there are also private transfer services willing to take you there which take considerably less time.
Rio Negro Palace is closed on Mondays. On Tuesdays through to Sundays the house is open between the hours of 9am and 5pm. To avoid the crowds and the heat of the day, visit in the morning. This will also give you a chance to explore Petrópolis before heading back to Rio.
Petrópolis is known as the “Imperial City” because of its ties to the Brazilian monarchy. It’s an interesting city with a Germanic, Japanese, Italian, and Portuguese heritage due to immigration at the turn of the 20th century, and the architecture often reflects that. There are many gardens and palaces to visit, and the Imperial Museum is a must-see.
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