The Ancient Egyptian Concept of Beauty

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and this is never more true than seen over time and between different cultures. Over time, our concept of beauty seems to fluctuate, particularly concerning people, sometimes favoring rather heavy individuals and at other times very skinny ones. In different cultures, parts of the body may be purposefully exaggerated in the name of beauty, the effects of which might even seem grotesque to those of another culture. For example, various tribes throughout the world use different methods to lengthen necks, exaggerate mouths, ears and even the shape of the head.

Nevertheless, there does appear to be certain classical concepts of beauty that are not inconsistent with many of our modern views, and it would seem that the ancient Egyptian concepts of beauty are not very different, at least in regards to the human form. At the same time, Egyptians seem to have been just as influenced by beauty, if not more so, than we are in our modern world. Indeed, it seems at time that beauty may have even been a part concept related to ma'at, the order that Egyptian's saw in their world.

For example, foreign lands were considered by the ancient Egyptians to be a part of chaos, the opposite of ma'at, and foreigners are very often depicted in a form very different than the ancient Egyptians themselves, and in a very different artistic style. Frequently, they may even be represented in a more realistic, and much less idealistic style. A classical example is that of the Queen of Punt recorded during the reign of Hatshepsut, but prisoners were very often represented in very less than ideal forms.

Our evidence on how the ancient Egyptians viewed beauty comes from many different sources, including pictorial, sculptures in the round and various textual. Much of it affirms a specific model of beauty, particularly in individuals and perhaps even more specifically in females.

Foreigners from Ramesses III Temple at Medinet Habu, depicted almost in the style of Egyptian women


Sometimes, ancient Egyptians did not have specific words that relate to modern conceptual ideas. For example, there seems to have been no real term that referred to art in general. At other times, they developed a number of conceptual terms for certain ideas. An example of this is the concept of beauty. In studying the ancient Egyptian's idea of beauty, it is useful to examine the many words they used for this concept.

There were two adjectives that were used to describe beautiful things, or beautiful people, consisting of "n" and "nfr". The term nfr, which is usually written as nefer in modern Egyptological works, was one of the most common, used in names and even sometimes used up until the present day. There are also substantives and even verbs related to this term. The verbs derived from nfr include snfr, which means beautifully or embellished. nfrw or nfr, and later bw nfr, may also be used as an abstract concept of beauty. And while the term nfr or nfrt may be used to describe a man or a woman, the term appears to have more significance than simply meaning a beautiful person. In fact, these terms often refer to a specific category of individual, and they can reveal something of what the Egyptians regarded as beautiful. For example, a young women referred to as nfrwt is sometimes described as "never having been opened in childbirth" as in the Westcar Papyrus. We find at Ramesses III's palace at Medinet Habu on the West Bank of Luxor (ancient Thebes) a list of captured foreigners including a reference to nfrwt as a category of female between child and mature woman. Nfrw, the masculine version of the same word, is found in several instances when it clearly refers to young men or young people. In one instance, it can even be translated as "recruits". Certain cows are even referenced as nfrwt.

We might also examine a number of phrases or terms that include the adjective nfr. Imntt nfrt, for example, meaning "the Beautiful West", is found often in tombs and funerary texts to describe the city of the dead. Hdt refers to the White Crown of Upper Egypt, but sometimes we see the phrase hdt nfrt and sometimes even nfrt. The king is very often described as the ntr nfr, an epithet which is generally translated as "the Good God," but the "Beautiful God" is also an accurate meaning. However, in a coregency, the term ntr nfr is used to designate the more youthful ruler. In this situation, the older ruler, usually the father, is referred to as ntr'3, meaning the "Great God." In this regard, even though the younger ruler may not be so young, the younger of the two is referred to as nfr.

Indeed. the connection that seems to exist between youth and the descriptive term nfr may be an important clue to understanding the ancient Egyptian concept of beauty. In Egyptian art, the ideal form is a youthful and slim figure with narrow hips, which anthropometric studies of pharaonic mummies have revealed is a fair representation of reality, at least in the case of Egyptian women. Furthermore, their hip to shoulder proportions are not greatly different from those found in male Egyptian mummies. While both sexes may be depicted in this way, representations of males are more likely to vary from the ideal.

In fact, age, when women are depicted, is most often represented subtly, in the form of a slightly drooping derriere, subtly sagging breasts or pouching cheeks, occasionally with horizontal lines across the torso, indicating an increased weight. Usually, the artistic elements are detectable only by close examination and comparison of with other representations. One of the most famous and explicit representations of youth and age in a woman's body is that of the funerals of Nebamun and Ipuky, who both married the same woman. The two funerals are depicted as taking place simultaneously. The representations of the widow show her with bared breasts both firm, and then drooping with a change in profile to suggest a sagging chin in the older version of the woman.

However, representations of the king are often particularly subtle. One must look for almost imperceptible clues that may suggest advancing age of a ruler. For example, in studying numerous depictions of Amenhotep III and his family, it was discovered that the king's torso was depicted as being somewhat thicker than that of other men.

Yet, during various periods of Egyptian history, wealthy tomb owners sometimes wished to emphasize their sagacity, and therefore actually had themselves represented as older men. Tomb scenes could show aged courtiers, who were depicted with toothless faces and heavy sagging bellies. In fact, during the Amarna Period, bowing elderly court functionaries appear in many of the scenes behind the figure of the king and queen. Note however that wrinkles are rarely shown on either sex, and gray hair is very rare. In fact, the Ebers Papyrus contains remedies not only for wrinkles, but also for baldness and graying hair, indicating that the ancient Egyptians, like their modern counterparts, at least attempted to retain the appearance of youth during their lifetimes.

Clearly, the attributes of youth were considered beautiful in ancient Egypt, but we may also examine more precise elements that were considered beautiful in an individual. In love poetry, as well as hymns to Hathor, the goddess of beauty, some sense of what was considered physically beautiful in people may be found. For example, in many poems, Hathor is defined as "golden," which might be a reference to her complexion. Indeed, the skin of gods was often represented in gold.

In the Papyrus of Chester Beatty I, the writer is explicit, mentioning his beloved scent, her hair, her eyes and her buttocks. From the same papyrus, another romantic poem describes the object of his affection as being ""bright" of skin, her arm "more brilliant than gold," long-necked and "white-breasted," hair of "genuine lapis lazuli," (blue?) and fingers like lotus blooms. It also mentions her beautiful thighs and heavy buttocks. He also admired her swift walk, sweet voice and, an age old compliment from men, her ability to know when to stop talking.

Scent and color both seem important elements in many erotic texts, where the lover might desire to see the color of his beloved's limbs. In a Third Intermediate Period (25th Dynasty) hymn, recorded on the Louvre stela C100, there is a description of the priestess Mutirdis, who has locks of hair black as night and dark as "wine-grapes," "brilliant" arms, firm breasts and a complexion "like jasper."

Females are referred to much more in terms of beauty than are men. However, in the "Blinding of Truth by falsehood," a woman desires Truth, a man more handsome than anyone else in the country. She bears his child, who looks like a young god. Hatshepsut also tells us, at Deir el-Bahri, that when the god Amun appears in the bedroom of her mother, Queen Ahmes, her mother is awakened by his divine fragrance, which permeates the whole palace as they make love. Hatshepsut herself is described as appearing before her subjects with skin like electrum (a silver-gold alloy) and smelling like all the perfumes of Punt. Clearly, an alluring scent is connected in the ancient Egyptian mind with divine beauty.

At other times, beauty is described indirectly by analogy or simile. For example, in Papyrus Harris 500, a poem written fairly late in Egypt's pharaonic history (about 500 BC) with a female narrator describes herself as being like a field planted with sweet-smelling herbs. She also compares her love's voice to pomegranate wine. This is reminiscent of an amazing talking pomegranate tree mentioned in Papyrus Turin 1966, which compares a beloved's teeth to pomegranate seeds and her breasts to the whole fruit. We are not so sure why the teeth would be compared to pomegranate seeds, however.

Similarly, a male of Cairo Vase 25218 says that he feels immersed in perfume when he embraces his beloved, as if he were in the land of incense. He also claims to be drunk "without beer" when he kisses her.

Color is also important in nonliterary depictions of the ideal form. Men are almost universally shown with red or reddish-brown skin. Women are frequently shown with paler skins, although the color used by artists varies over time. In Old Kingdom representations, we see women with pinkish white skin. During the Middle and early New Kingdom, their skin is often yellowish. Later in the New Kingdom, the shades returned to pink or were pale orange. Goddesses, on the other hand, had yellow or "golden" skin throughout the New Kingdom.

Only during the Amarna Period do we sometimes find male and female with the same, darker reddish skin color. Some Egyptologists have attempted to explain this color variation as the work of the sun. Hence, upper class women remained indoors while men were out in the sun, so that a lighter-skinned woman appeared more aristocratic. Indeed, men depicted with newly shaved heads are often represented with a paler scalp than the rest of their skin, and elderly men are sometimes also shown with paler skin. However, there was also doubtless symbolic meaning. Certainly this is true for the skin of goddesses.

Beauty in humans as well as in other animals or objects may also have included symmetry as a necessary component. In both art and architecture the ancient Egyptians favored the rectilinear geometric outline over the curved. Therefore the ideal male body may be summarized as being bounded by two triangles. One is that of the torso, consisting of broad shoulders exaggerated in two-dimensional images by frontal positioning and a narrow waist, shown in three quarter view. The other is the striding legs. The bodies of women were tailored to fit within a long rectangle. Their shoulders were of course narrower than the male's and the feet were together or with one slightly advanced. Only during the Amarna Period does this ideal symmetry vary, but that period's art is so profoundly different than the remainder of Egyptian history as to be a subject unto itself. It is also likely that, though royal depictions and even those of common people varied considerably during this period reflecting a new form of official royal beauty, the idea of real beauty probably did not change among the general population. In fact, the royal bust of Nefertiti, the wife of Akhenaten (founder of the Amarna Period) was, and is considered to be a classical example of female beauty (or at least of facial features).

                                               The Bust of Nefertiti, now in Berlin

The elite who commissioned tombs are depicted in much the same way as those of royalty, for the most part. Drastic departures from the slim, youthful and healthy norm are seen primarily in those of lower status. For example, pattern baldness is depicted in representations of herdsmen and other lower class males. Even for the lower classes, age and obesity are rarely shown in women.

Sculptures in the round also seem to portray what the Egyptians believed to be beautiful. Kings are frequently depicted as very powerful humans, with well formed and well toned muscles. Women, on the other hand, or represented in the round as slender, graceful forms. On the other hand those, particularly non-royal statuary, may at times be more realistic. We find many touching statues of more common people who do not exactly fit the ideal form, and so therefore it may seem that statuary was less of an indication of perfect beauty than that of paintings and reliefs.

It is not only people who may be described as beautiful. In Papyrus Turin 1966, a sycamore fig is described as being beautiful. It has leaves greener than turquoise, branches like faience, wood the color of feldspar and fruits as red as jasper. The beautiful jewel-like colors of the tree are an integral part of its beauty. There are many other instances of descriptions related to beautiful inanimate objects, including that of the Nile, the Western mountains and even Egypt itself. It is also clear that Egyptians saw beauty in many other objects that are even to this day beautiful to us. This obviously includes many items of jewelry, ornate boxes and items made of pottery and various stone, and these items that we see today in museums speak to us of the ancient Egyptian's love of beauty.

Source by Maggie Rutherford

Breve Histórico da Beleza Masculina

Encontrei  este artigo super interessante, falando sobre o Breve Historico da Beleza Masculina, o presente artigo está na internet (http://www.ceart.udesc.br/) estou apenas blogando uma parte  do mesmo, vale muito a pena ler na integra todo o Artigo.

"O presente artigo pretende historicizar a beleza masculina através dos tempos, desde a masculinidade no Egito antigo, até o homem metrossexual de hoje. Como método de investigação utilizou-se a pesquisa qualitativa, bibliográfica; fazendo uso de artigos e livros de diversas áreas que tratam da beleza (filosofia, história da arte e geral, moda, educação física, etc.). Com isso, buscou-se nos períodos históricos pesquisados, definir a beleza masculina e as características desta, averiguando a existência de diferenças e/ou semelhanças em cada um deles. Percebeu-se assim, semelhanças em cada período no que tange à beleza quanto às formas, uso de roupas como forma de reforçá-la, simetria, estética, valorização da juventude e, quanto à forma física, semelhança entre os homens egípcios antigos e o metrossexual da atualidade. Por fim, notou-se uma preocupação masculina com a beleza em todos os períodos pesquisados com suas particularidades, sendo essa preocupação não exclusiva do universo feminino.

...O breve resgate da beleza masculina através dos tempos possibilitou-nos verificar que a preocupação com a beleza esteve presente em grande parte dos momentos pesquisados.
Mais do que isso, percebeu-se pontos em comum para delimitar o homem belo. Dentre os aspectos vistos como relevantes, a juventude mereceu preocupação desde o Egito até os dias atuais; assim, os homens de um modo geral, buscavam a juventude para poderem tornar-se belos, utilizando-se de cremes que pudessem esconder suas rugas ou mesmo perucas para esconder a calvície.

As roupas foram usadas como ornamentos para ostentar a presença da beleza, muito mais do que as características corporais – aqui, destacamos os séculos: XV, XVIII e XIX; com o uso das cores que na época feudal denotavam a beleza, a moda dos sapatos altos para os homens, trazido pelo rei Luis XIV e a criação de roupas como mudança social.

Porém, o corpo e a força apareceram como principais fatores de identificação com a beleza. Desde os egípcios, passando pela Grécia antiga, sendo retratado pelos artistas renascentistas nas pinturas de Adão, Apollo, dentre outros e, sendo resgatado no século XX com os homens que participaram dos concursos mister mundo até os metrossexuais com a
supervalorização e definição do corpo. Cabe aqui ressaltar que o corpo considerado belo e desenhado por eles é extremamente parecido com o corpo definido de um metrossexual, em que suas costas são largas e a cintura mais fina, mostrando-nos uma aproximação e resgate através dos séculos. Mesmo com alguma variação no período feudal no qual a magreza era
sinônima de feiúra e um grande corpo (cheio), era denominado belo.

Mais do que isso, a proporção esteve presente em grande parte das pesquisas no que concerne ao corpo e ao todo. Medidas que foram usadas desde a Grécia antiga, passando pelos séculos XVI e XVII, a perfeição e harmonia das formas era uma grande preocupação e busca dos homens para assemelhar-se à perfeição e conseqüentemente ao belo; haja vista ter sido a
beleza associada ao bom e ao belo desde os filósofos pré-socráticos até os dias atuais com os metrossexuais, preocupados com um corpo enxuto, cintura fina, sem que os homens sejam extremamente fortes, mas com um toque de feminilidade e classe.

A preocupação em tornar-se belo utilizando-se de produtos naturais, foi outro ponto trazido na pesquisa, pois os egípcios que se utilizavam de cremes para as rachaduras dos pés por morarem nos desertos, o uso de óleos, banhos e cremes para embelezarem a pele pode ser comparado com a preocupação corporal dos metrossexuais da atualidade que fazem uso dos
mais diversos cremes, depilação, óleos, etc. Ambos possuem muitas semelhanças, não só com o uso de cremes, mas também com as roupas e adereços que possam valorizar seus corpos,sem que necessariamente os tornem femininos.

Assim, percebe-se que a questão da beleza historicizada, esteve presente em grande parte das épocas passadas. Entretanto, os aspectos que definiam a beleza masculina, eram diferentes; modelos de beleza masculina destacaram-se por meio de aspectos como roupas,corpo, força, adereços, harmonia e proporção corporal, o uso de cremes e a atenção à etiqueta,
constituíram-se como fontes de beleza e não necessariamente um terreno exclusivamente de preocupação feminina, mas presente na preocupação do universo masculino desde a antiguidade, modificado através dos tempos e retomado na atualidade por meio do “novo homem”, o metrossexual e, divulgado na mídia, como uma nova forma de viver a masculinidade, sem preconceitos"


Source by Aurivar Fernandes Filho - Graduando de Psicologia – Univali – Campus Biguaçu and John Revisky (Photographer)

Rio Grande do Sul - Travelling by South Rio Grande - Brazil

Interessante vídeo do Governo do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, mostrando o povo, os costumes e as paisagens da região sul do Brasil. O povo do Rio Grande também é chamado de Gaúcho. Esta palavra é derivada de "guacho", que significa órfão, ladrão de gado, malfeitor ("homem sem lei e sem rei"). Isto porque os guachos eram filhos de índia com homem branco espanhol e português. Como não eram brancos e nem eram índios, os guachos mestiços se espalharam pelas pradarias criando uma forma original de viver e de se alimentar com carne assada na brasa, em fogo de chão, temperada apenas com sal grosso. Para caçar, usavam o laço e as boleadeiras. Como teto para abrigá-los tinham o céu estrelado e as árvores dos pampas. Para aquecê-los durante as noites frias do Rio Grande, faziam grandes fogueiras e tomavam chimarrão (chá quente amargo e digestivo).

O Gaúcho também tem seu modo tradicional de falar: CHINA é a mulher; PRENDA é a jovem, a namorada; PINGO é o cavalo; XIMANGO é o gavião dos pampas; MARAGATO é o revolucionário farroupilha; CUIA é a cabaça onde toma o chimarrão; BOMBA é a colher furada para filtrar e sugar o mate quente; BAGUAL: potro recém domado e arisco; BACANUDO: sujeito bacana; TRILEGAL: três vezes legal; GAUDÉRIO: vadio, malandro, folgado; GRASPA: destilado das borras do vinho; PIÁ: moleque, menino.

ENGLISH:
Interesting video of the Rio Grande do Sul State Government showing the people, customs and landscapes of southern Brazil. The people from Rio Grande is also called Gaúcho ("gahoochoo"). This word is derived from "guacho," which means orphan, thief of livestocks, evil-doer ( "man without law and no king"). This is because the guachos were children of Indians women with white man spanishes and Portugueses. So, they weren´t whites and also no indians... With the time, these mestizos guachos spread by the prairies creating their original way of life, feed with roast beef on the fire ground (named churrasco or barbecue) seasoned only with thick salt. To hunt, they use the lasso and the boleadeiras (balls). Their house roof was the starry sky and the trees of the Pampas. To heat during the cold nights of the Rio Grande, the gaúcho makes larges bonfires and drink the chimarrão, a bitter and hot tea inside a calabash named "cuia" (kooyah).

The Gaúcho also has its traditional way of speaking: CHINA is the woman; PRENDA is a young girl or his girlfriend; PINGO is the horse; XIMANGO is the sparrow-hawk of the pampas; MARAGATO is the revolutionary who fought in the Farroupilha revolution (against the ancient system of brazilian reign); CÚIA is the bowl where the gaúcho drinks the mate (green tea); PUMP is a perforated spoon to filter and suck the hot bitter tea. BAGUAL: angry and unsociable colt; BACANUDO: nice person; TRILEGAL: three times cool; GAUDÉRIO: vagrant, vagabond, lazy; GRASPA: grape firewater; PIÁ: boy, kid.


FRANÇAIS:
Intéressante vidéo du gouvernement d´État de Rio Grande do Sul en montrant les gens, les coutumes et les paysages du sud du Brésil. Les habitants de Rio Grande sont appelées aussi comme Gaúcho (gaoucho). Ce mot est dérivé de "guacho", qui signifie orphelin, voleur de bétail, mailfalteur ("homme sans loi et pas de roi"). C'est parce que les enfants des guachos ont été fils (enfants) des indiènnes avec hommes blancs espagnols et portugais. Comme ils n´étaient pas blancs et ny indiens, ces métis guachos se répandaient (éparpiller) par les prairies et ils ont créé un different mode de vie avec alimentation à base de viande rôti sur le charbon en grosses broches ou en feu par terre dans un trou. Comme assaisonnément, seulement du sel gros et rien plus. Pour chasser, le gaúcho utilize un lacet ou ses boleadeiras (boules attachés dans une corde). Comme toit, le ciel étoilé et les arbres de la pampa. Pour la chaleur pendant les nuits froides du sud, on pris le chimarrão, un thé chaud digestive et amer.

Le Gaúcho a aussi sa façon traditionnelle de parler: la CHINA c´est sa femme; PRENDA c´ est une jeune fille ou sa petite amie (girl friend); PINGO c´est le cheval; XIMANGO c´est le moineau-faucon de la pampa; MARAGATO c´est le révolutionnaire Farroupilha (révolution séparatiste à l´époque du règne); CUIA c´est le bol où il prend du thé chimarrão; BOMBA c´ est une cuillère perforée pour filtrer et sucer le mate (thé amer).; BAGUAL: poulain brave et hargneux; BACANUDO: quelqu´un sympatique; TRILEGAL: trois fois chouette; GAUDÉRIO: fainéant, vagabond, oisif; GRASPA: distillé, eau de vie; PIÁ: garçon,
gamin.





SOURCE BY Leonidas Pires (youtube)) Juventude1(youtube), JCKC (youtube)

Santa Catarina, The Brazilian Europe - A Europa Brasileira

This is a different state , where every one is niece of Gisele Bundchen. (BTCAus)
Gisele Caroline Bündchen[1] (born July 20, 1980 in Horizontina, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil) is a Brazilian model, occasional film actress and goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Environment Program.[5] (Wikipedia)




A diversidade cultural e a beleza catarinense estão retratadas neste filme produzido pela D/Araújo Comunicação para o Governo de Santa Catarina. Produzido em inglês com legendas em português, exibe paisagens exuberantes que variam entre serra e litoral, destaca as heranças culturais de vários povos, as opções de lazer, incluindo o ecoturismo, além da preservação ambiental, das oportunidades de negócios e da infra-estrutura do estado, considerado pelo segundo ano consecutivo o melhor destino turístico do Brasil.

PORTUGUÊS:
O Estado de Santa Catarina, do tamanho de Portugal, é o Estado mais europeu do Brasil e está em segundo lugar como o melhor lugar do país para se viver (em primeiro está a capital de Curitiba, no Paraná). Santa Catarina é formada por descendentes de imigrantes alemães, italianos, portugueses açorianos, austríacos, poloneses, húngaros, russos, ucranianos... É o "Brasil de olhos azuis" com seu folclore, danças, músicas, comida típica de todos os cantos do Velho Continente e até jogos que lembram muito a "velha e boa Europa". No Brasil tudo se mistura e acaba surgindo uma "nova receita" desse extraordinário "bolo humano" onde se funde a característica de todos. Mas não se engane com sua velha tradição. Santa Catarina é um Estado moderno e de economia forte, onde muitas empresas familiares de pequeno e médio porte fazem serviços de alta qualidade para o mercado interno e exportação. Suas indústrias crescem velozmente, principalmente na área de alta tecnologia. Seu moderno porto de Tubarão impressiona os visitantes. O Estado atrai turistas do Mercosul por suas belíssimas praias e atrai turistas brasileiros por causa do seu "frio europeu". Veja o vídeo e se surpreenda com mais este formidável pedaço do imenso continente chamado Brasil - terra ligada a todos os povos da Terra e a todas religiões.

ENGLISH:
The Santa Catarina State, with the size of Portugal, is the more european State in Brazil and it is in the second place as the best place to live in the country (the first one is the capital of Curitiba, Paraná State). Santa Catarina is formed by descendants of German immigrants, Italians, Azoreans Portugueses, Austrians, Poles, Hungarians, Russians, Ukrainians... It´s the "Brazil of blue eyes" with its own folklore, dances, musics, typicals foods from all corners of the world and even games that resemble the "good and old Europe". In Brazil all is blended, and from this nice mixing emerge a "new recipe" of this extraordinary "human cake" where all the characteristics merge to form another brazilian different characteristic. But do not be fooled with its old european tradition. Santa Catarina State is a modern and strong economy, where many family businesses, small and medium businesses, make high-quality services for the domestic market and exportation. Its industries grow rapidly, especially in high technology. Its modern port of Tubarão impresses the visitors. The state attracts tourists from Latin America for its beautiful beaches and attracts many brazilians touristis because its "european cold". Watch the video and be surprised with more this formidable piece of a huge continent called Brazil - land connected with all the peoples around the Earth and theirs differents religions.

FRANÇAIS:
L'État de Santa Catarina, avec la taille de Portugal, c´est l'État plus européen du Brésil. Il est en deuxième place comme la meilleur région du pays pour vivre (la première c´est la capitale de Curitiba, Paraná). Santa Catarina est formée par les descendants des immigrants allemands, italiens, portugais des Açores, les Autrichiens, les Polonais, les Hongrois, les Russes, les Ukrainiens... C'est le "Brésil aux yeux bleus", avec son folklore, ses danses, musiques, la nourriture typique de tous les coins du Vieux Continent et même des jeux qui ressemblent à une "très bonne et vieille Europe". Au Brésil touts se mélange pour former une "nouvelle recette" de cet extraordinaire "gâteau humain" qui est composé avec les caractéristiques de touts. Mais ne vous méprenez-pas avec ses anciennes traditions européennes. L´ État de Santa Catarina c´est une économie forte et moderne, où il y a des nombreuses entreprises familiales et des petites et moyennes entreprises des services de haute qualité pour le marché intérieur et à l'exportation. Les industries se développent rapidement, en particulier d´haute technologie. Son port moderne de Tubarão impressionne les visiteurs. L'Etat attire les touristes du Mercosud (Amerique Latine) à cause de la beauté de ses plages. Attire aussi les touristes brésiliens en raison de sa "froide européenne" (quelquefois avec de neige à la ville montagneuxe de São Joaquim). Regardez vous la vidéo et êtez vous surpris avec cette formidable pièce de cet immense continent appelé Brésil - terre connectée à tous les peuples de la Terre et à toutes leurs religions.



SOURCE BY Leonidas Pires (YOUTUBE) and D/araujoComunicacao (youtube), belasantacatarina and www.viabrasilimmobilien.de

São Paulo's sane and sensual side is not always so easy to find. At first glance, this sprawling city of 10 million — the cultural and economic capital of Brazil — appears to be a hard-edged urban jungle a place whose seemingly haphazard design, a bit like Los Angeles, can make it hard for the outsider to negotiate. São Paulo is no Paris, Rio or Buenos Aires — cities where you can just show up and fall in love on a first pass-through.





Even on Rua Oscar Freire, the narrow boulevard that is often compared to Rodeo Drive, a visitor would not immediately be seduced by the fashion boutiques with unfamiliar names. One of the most original and enchanting stores on the street, Clube Chocolate, is so chic that it has no display windows and is so exclusive that security guards flank the heavy wooden door that hides the glorious, airy interior. How would you know that inside there's a bright, three-story atrium with floor-to-ceiling palm trees and a sandy beach that you reach by descending a polished steel circular staircase?



São Paulo does not go out of its way to cater to foreign tourists, and this can be a blessing. At restaurants, you will not find yourself surrounded by Germans, Australians and other Americans. At the flea markets, you will not see couples wearing fanny packs and taking photographs. At museums and churches, you will not find crowds. You get to experience life undiluted and witness a South American city in transition.

One gets a sense of the city's determination to become a player on the international hipster circuit at three boutique hotels: the Emiliano, the Unique and the Fasano. When I arrived at the Emiliano on a Friday at noon, after a 45-minute cab ride from the airport, my room was not ready. Before I could settle into the bright, minimalist lobby, with its avant-garde armchairs wrapped in hundreds of yards of golden rope by the Campana brothers — the Brazilian duo whose work has been shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York— I was escorted by one of the good-looking desk clerks to the glass-enclosed rooftop spa. He handed me a fluffy white bathrobe and white Havaianas, Brazil's famous rubber flip-flops, encouraging me to soak in the wooden hot tubs, cool off in the marble plunge pool or take a shower. I did all three.

I had decided to come to São Paulo for a long weekend because it may be one of the easiest overnight flights around. I took a nonstop nine-hour American Airlines flight out of New York at around 10 p.m. and arrived in São Paulo in the late morning. (In January, when I went, São was three hours ahead of New York; the difference can vary from one to three hours depending on shifting Daylight Savings times.) Dinner and breakfast were served close to take off and landing, so I could sleep for nearly seven solid hours and wake up ready for a full day.

My room at the Emiliano was soothing and sybaritic: white Egyptian cotton sheets and six pillows of different firmness; an Eames lounge chair upholstered in an oatmeal fabric; a wall of honey-colored wood that hid closets and two Sub-Zero drawer refrigerators stocked with drinks; and a large bathroom with a view of neighboring penthouses. As the guest services manager tried to teach me how to work all the lighting controls (which I never mastered), she told me she could send a butler to unpack my bags. (I declined.)

From the posh to the prosaic, São Paulo can sometimes seem like a European capital. There's the Metropolitan Cathedral, a building with Gothic and Byzantine elements said to hold 8,000 worshipers, the 1911 Municipal Theater inspired by the Paris Opéra, art museums whose buildings are as noteworthy as their exhibitions and a downtown public food hall where everything from baby pigs to hot peppers are displayed in their stalls like art installations

The Pinacoteca do Estado is an outstanding example of how a historic structure can be preserved and turned into a 21st-century museum. Stripped down to the bricks as if it were an ancient ruin, the 1897 building now has a series of interior skylit courtyards with sculptures by Rodin and Niki de Saint-Phalle and an impressive collection ranging from 19th-century landscapes to 20th-century abstracts by pioneering modernists such as Waldemar Cordeiro and Willys de Castro.
Paulistas are very proud of their modernist architecture, especially the Copan, a 1950 apartment building designed by Oscar Niemeyer, who worked with Le Corbusier on the United Nations and created Brasília, the capital city. Elsewhere, a repurposed 1930 train station, Sala São Paulo, has been turned into a strikingly contemporary symphonic hall. The Museum of Art of São Paulo (MASP), a landmark 1968 building by Lina Bo Bardi that is suspended above a plaza by colonnades at either end without any interior supports, has a collection that includes works by Renoir, Cézanne, Manet, Degas and Modigliani.

While traveling around town by car is essential, it is easy to stroll for hours in the Jardins district, a pedestrian-friendly village that would have appealed to the urban ecologist Jane Jacobs, who wrote that a "good city street neighborhood achieves a marvel of balance between its people's determination to have essential privacy and their simultaneous wishes for differing degrees of contact, enjoyment or help from the people around." Set on a sloping grid of narrow streets, the Jardins has scores of restaurants, sidewalk cafes and luxury high-rise apartment buildings separated from the sidewalks by gates and lush foliage.

"When you are in the Jardins, it's very easy to think you are in the richest country in the world," said Lauer Alves Nunes dos Santos, a semiotics professor I met while having lunch at Prêt Café, a small Jardins restaurant tucked away in a restored house. As an American dining in a neighborhood hangout — where a buffet set out in pretty glass bowls and iron pans makes you feel as though you've stumbled upon a private lunch party — I was a novelty. The owner, Beatriz Ticcoulat Alves de Araújo, came out to meet me and asked if I enjoyed the gnocchi, fish stew in shrimp sauce, stuffed zucchini, rice and beans, green salad and coconut pudding. "This is the type of food I would serve you if you came to my house for lunch," she said.

There is nothing homey about the sexy and ominous Unique Hotel. Designed by Ruy Ohtake, the ark-shaped hotel seems like a set for a James Bond movie, with its darkened windows, secret doors and suited security guards. To get there, my taxi passed through Jardim Europa, a neighborhood of shady streets with baroque and modernist houses hidden behind tall walls — the Brazilian equivalent of Beverly Hills. This L.A. moment continued at the Unique's rooftop Skye bar, where cocktails are served outdoors next to a lap pool with panoramic city views. Even on a cloudy night, there is a sunset glow, with the terrace artfully illuminated by pink floodlights.

Summer weekends tend to be quiet in São Paulo as residents head for the beaches or mountains, but many of the style-conscious families and young professionals who do stay in town end up dining at Spot, a bustling glass-box brasserie. The menu features multi-ingredient green salads, inventive pastas and small steaks with luscious sauces and crackling fried potatoes. It was hard for me to concentrate on the excellent food, though, as a steady parade of tanned women in miniskirted halter dresses kept joining a table where two movie-star-handsome men continue buying rounds of drinks for all. It seemed like an episode of "Sex in the City" dubbed into Portuguese.

After dinner, I went to Bar Balcão, where a two-sided serpentine bar winds around the restaurant. "This bar is popular with artists, poets and academics," said Ana Amèlia Genioli, an architect who was having a late supper. "But São Paulo is not Brazil. You need to see the countryside." I explained that I was more fascinated by cities, and told her what a Brazilian artist, Ronaldo Bregola, had said to me: "Of course São Paulo is not Brazil, but Paris is not France and London is not England."

São Paulo is certainly a world-class city when it comes to shopping, no matter your taste or budget. Bargain-hunting in Sunday's Liberdade flea market, I bought inexpensive handmade crafts: children's puppets, wooden spoons and hand-dyed silk scarves in tropical hues. I loaded up on flip-flops at Page Calçados, which looks like every off-price shoe store I avoid back home. It is in a downtown wholesale district and carries Havaianas in dozens of styles and colors that are rarely imported to the United States at just 10.99 to 13.99 reais a pair ($4.95 to $6.35, at 2.2 reais to the dollar).




But the high-end shopping is even more engaging — even if you are only browsing. I wasn't sure whether to visit Daslu, the department store that had been profiled as a citadel of conspicuous consumption in The New Yorker three years ago. But then I met Walkiria Vaney, a Brazilian who used to live in New York and described Daslu as much bigger and grander than Bergdorf Goodman. I had to see for myself.


You can't walk into Daslu off the street; you must arrive by car (or helicopter) and pass through a security checkpoint. The store looks like a five-star resort hotel and has the ambience of an exclusive country club where everyone is shopping instead of playing golf or tennis. In the store are 10 coffee and Champagne bars, and boutiques selling everything from Frette sheets and Prada bags to Aspen ski vacations and Harley-Davidsons. Daslu's staffing provides insight into Brazilian class structure. Sexy, animated women with good haircuts are ringing up sales while a battalion of stoic housekeepers in French maid's uniforms silently straighten shelves in the background.

That Paulistas know how to spend lavishly is also apparent at D.O.M., a restaurant run by the celebrity chef Alex Atala, considered the country's Jean-Georges Vongerichten for his reinterpretation of Brazilian ingredients — black beans, codfish, ferofa — with a French twist. The dining room is hushed and corporate-looking but attracts a diverse clientele: Brazilian pop stars like Clara Moreno and her entourage, couples splurging for a special occasion, and rich families so blasé about fine dining that they talk on their cellphones while they eat.

They should pay more attention, because the food is superb. A friend and I had the four-course tasting menu for 160 reais a person: shrimp with a papaya mango salsa; codfish brandade in a reduction of black beans; a fish called filhote in a crust of manioc, a root vegetable; duck confit with peppercorns. The unconventional cheese course was served by a waiter who twirled a mixture of potato purée and Gruyère with two spoons in the air as if it were taffy, before divvying it up onto each plate.

After such a refined meal, the idea of a loud nightclub was out of the question, so I ended up having a nightcap at another of the boutique hotels, the Fasano, where the sumptuous masculine décor suggests that it attracts more hedge-fund managers than models, and whose Baretto bar is a contemporary riff on a 1930's cocktail lounge.

On my last day, I headed back to the Jardins, and its world-class shops, curious to see the interior of Galeria Melissa. Designed by Karim Rashid of New York, the store's signature all-rubber high heels — by designers such as Alexandre Herchcovitch (whose rock star fashions are sold at his boutique around the corner) and the Campana Brothers — are displayed in plastic bubbles that hang from the ceiling, creating a trippy "2001: A Space Odyssey" effect.

During a typical summer torrential rainstorm, I took cover at Cavalera, one of many stores that sell skintight Brazilian-made jeans and silky-soft cotton T-shirts. The salesclerks spoke little English, but they all looked like models and were eager to please, producing stack after stack of jeans, some embellished with Portuguese graffiti.

After an hour, it was still raining hard, so I ran across the street to Z Deli, an idiosyncratic place on Alameda Lorena, another street of fashionable shops. There, the buffet lunch includes brisket, pierogi, cole slaw and, improbably, gefilte fish. Run by two Jewish women, Zenaide Raw, who once lived in New York and speaks good English, and her sister Rosa, Z Deli made me feel like an insider. When Zenaide heard I was from the United States, she brought me a piece of rich poppy seed cake and sat down at the table. When I told her I was staying only three days, she scolded me: "How can you see everything in such a short time? Next time you have to see me first, and I will tell you what you should do." I assured her that I would.





SOURCE BY By DAN SHAW Published: March 12, 2006 (THE NEW YORK TIMES) Bluebus(YOUTUBE) luuft(YOUTUBE), www.rw.tv.br (Empresa Tera Producoes)

Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil - The city

"Belo Horizonte, the first modern Brazilian city to spring from an architect's drawing board, was especially designed for its role as the capital of the state of Minas Gerais. Its wide, landscaped avenues and carefully planned residential suburbs have, however, suffered the impact of the country's high rate of urbanization. Belo Horizonte is the distribution and processing center of a rich agricultural and mining region and the nucleus of a burgeoning industrial complex. Its chief manufactures are steel, steel products, automobiles, and textiles. Gold, manganese, and gem stones of the surrounding region are processed in the city. Belo Horizonte is also a leading cultural center, with three universities, a historical museum, numerous libraries, and sports stadiums. Because of its altitude (850m) the climate is refreshing and cool."





GRUPO CORPO - Trecho do balé "Onqotô", com o Grupo Corpo Companhia de Dança. Coreografia de Rodrigo Pederneiras. Música de Caetano Veloso e José Miguel Wisnik.


"BELO HORIZONTE, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, has managed to become the country’s third-largest city while remaining almost completely unknown to the outside world. If tourists — more drawn to the sybaritic pleasures of Rio de Janeiro or the urban clamor of São Paulo — know it at all, it is because they may pass through it on their way to Ouro Preto and Diamantina, treating it as a little more than a refueling stop as they head toward those picturesque colonial-era mining towns.

Its international anonymity was born of no coastline and thus no beaches, no famous Carnival and thus no February madness, and no big attractions save a few buildings designed by Oscar Niemeyer that pale next to his famous works in Brasília.

But Beagá, the city’s nickname (from the pronunciation of its initials in Portuguese), does have a claim to fame: as the bar capital of Brazil. Not bars as in slick hotel lounges or boozy meat markets, but bars as in botecos, informal sit-down spots where multiple generations socialize, drink beer and often have an informal meal. If you believe the local bluster, there are 12,000 bars in the city, more per capita than anywhere else in the country. Why, no one is completely sure, but one theory has turned into a popular saying: “Não tem mares, tem bares.” Loosely: “There are no seas, thus there are bars.”

And though tourist guidebooks barely make mention of them, they make for a great way for travelers to dive into the social life of a city whose metropolitan area has exploded in recent decades to over five million inhabitants. The best time to come is for the eighth annual Comida di Buteco competition in April, when some 40 of the top bars square off in categories like hygiene, beer frigidity, service and most importantly, best tira-gosto — or appetizer. Winners are decided not just by judges but by public ballot, giving Belo-Horizontinos a flimsy excuse to go out every night for a month.

If you miss it, don’t worry. Every night of the year seems to have something of a party feel in this off-the-radar screen hot spot. Get your feet wet at Mercearia Lili (Rua São João Evangelista, 696, Santo Antônio, 55-31-3296-1951), a regular participant in Comida di Buteco. It is one bar of many in Santo Antônio, an upscale neighborhood of steep hills that require superhuman parallel parking skills or, preferably, use of the city’s metered taxis.

The bar is typical in many ways, not least of which is the furniture: yellow plastic tables and chairs, with the maroon Skol beer logo, spilling out onto the sidewalk (600-milliliter bottles of the Pilsener Skol, to be shared in small glasses, are the citywide order of choice). The buzz of conversation and the clink of bottles — not a D.J. — provide the soundtrack; grey hair and what in the United States would be underage youth share the tables.

Not far away is Via Cristina (Rua Cristina, 1203, Santo Antônio, 55-31-3296-8343). It’s more upscale with tables covered in green and white checkerboard tablecloths, uniformed waiters and a wall of cachaça — hundreds of different bottles of the sugar cane liquor — that the bartenders use a library-style bookshelf ladder to reach. Their entry in this year’s contest was the Raulzito, a fritter-like pastry filled with dried beef that can be had for two reais (about $1.10 at 1.84 reais to the dollar)

If there were a Comida di Buteco award for “Hardest to Get To,” the Freud Bar (no address, Nova Lima, 55-31-8833-9098, freudbar.com for map) would win every year. The place is plunked down in the middle of some woods outside the city, down a winding unpaved road. The bar is built into a hill, warmed by a bonfire, and has a few tables actually in the surrounding trees. It has live music (blues and rock), and serves a limited but creative menu, like mulled wine, or a cup of squash, mozzarella and chicken soup (3.50 reais), a nice break from the bean and pork rind soup that is available at just about every boteco.

Botecos are not just nighttime affairs, as you’ll find if you head to the city’s Central Market on a weekend afternoon. Sure, there are stands selling fruit, meat, the state’s famous cheese, live dogs and birds (as pets), and live hens (as dinner). But the market is also full of uproarious, packed bars like Lumapa, where authorities must chain off a chokingly slender pedestrian walkway so the non-beer-drinking shoppers can get by. A calmer choice is Casa Cheia (Central Market, store 167, Centro, 55-31-3274-9585) a sit-down place serving all its past Comida di Buteco creations, like the Mexidoido chapado, a mishmash of rice, vegetables, four kinds of meat, and quail eggs.

It is also worth heading to the more far-flung neighborhoods to see some of the quirkier takes on the bar theme. (With 11,999 competitors, you do what you can to stand out.) The ultra-informal Bar do Caixote (Rua Nogueira da Gama, 189, João Pinheiro, 55-31-3376-3010) literally means “Bar of the Crate,” and sure enough, the tables and chairs are wooden crates. The overall winner of the 2007 Comida de Buteco, Bar do Véio, or “Bar of the Old Guy” (Rua Itaguaí, 406, Caiçara, 55-31-3415-8455) is in an outer neighborhood and your cab driver may have trouble finding it, but anyone in the area can direct you. Their simple dish of chunks of pork and tiny golden-fried balls of potato served with a standout pineapple and mint sauce was the 2007 tira-gosto winner.

When you need a bar break, take an afternoon trip to the Pampulha neighborhood, where several Niemeyer buildings stand, including his famous Church of São Francisco de Assis. The neighborhood also houses Belo Horizonte’s most famous restaurant, Xapuri (Rua Mandacaru, 260, Pampulha, 55-31-3496-6198), the best place in town to try the traditionally rustic cuisine of Minas Gerais. And Sunday morning, you can find unusual gifts at the Hippie Fair (a k a the Feira de Arte e Artensanato da Afonso Pena), two long blocks on Avenida Alfonso Pena crammed with clothing, jewelry, household goods and crafts. When you’re done, stop at food stalls at either end for fried fish or coconut sweets, or pop into the beautifully landscaped Municipal Park park just below the fair to relax. In either place, you won’t be far from a vendor ready to crack you open a can of Skol. In Belo Horizonte, the world’s a bar.


The simple beauty of the state of Minas Gerais. Southeast Region of Brasil.




Shortly after its founding in 1698, Ouro Preto became the center of the greatest gold and silver rush in the Americas to that date. It still resembled a boom town when it was given city status in 1711 with the name Vila Rica. A decade later it became capital of Minas Gerais captaincy, which even today is one of the principal mineral extracting regions of Brasil. In late 1790's a group of intellectuals and professionals assembled here to plan Brazil's independence from Portugal. The movement known as Inconfidencia Mineira was promptly crushed by the Crown and its leader, a dentist, immortalized as Tiradentes (toothpooler), was executed and beheaded. His head was publicly displayed in the streets of Rio as a warning against those with similar views. In 1823, a year after Brazil's independence, Ouro Preto was named capital of Minas Gerais province. In 1897, however, because of transportation difficulties the capital was transferred to Belo Horizonte (40 miles [65 km] northwest).

A UNESCO World Heritage Landmark

Ouro Preto today lives largely in the past. In 1933 it was declared a national monument and the surrounding region a national park, so that the city's elaborate (mostly late 18th-century) public buildings, churches, and houses might be preserved or restored. The city has many extremely ornate (gold leafed) Baroque churches; religious architecture and sculpture reached its zenith during the mid 1700's under the skillful hands of Antonio Francisco Lisboa, better known as Aleijadinho ("Little Cripple"). The Church of Sao Francisco de Assis and the façade of the Church of Nossa Senhora do Carmo are his masterpieces. Its museums and churches are rich and beautiful. Most recently Ouro Preto was used for the signing of the new economic treaty linking Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay, known as Mercosul.


SOURCE by.:By SETH KUGEL (The New York Times - Published: October 28, 2007 whlamericas, vereadorchicofoguete, Matheusfbarbosa, Canal de hmviana (youtube), www.uoregon.edu (Sergio Koreisha) and Montezum (YOUTUBE) aabila (YOUTUBE)

RIO DE JANEIRO - THE CITY

THE CITY
Rio de Janeiro is truly still beautiful. The City, ever more Marvelous. With its natural beauty, one of the most beautiful seashores in the world, comprised of 14 beaches, the contagious, heartwarming joy of six million inhabitants spread over 159 districts, a unique and highly animated cultural diversity and life, this postcard of Brazil receives the world with open arms.



Rio is Carioca; it is Brazilian; it is international. It is feeling at home even though you live on the other side of the world and do not speak a word of Portuguese.

Rio is festive. The city's cultural fervor is so great that it is common to have events where the turnout exceeds one million people. Some examples of this are the New Year's celebration, Carnaval, sports events such as the 2004 Athens Olympic Torch Relay and rock concerts on the beach, such as Live Earth and the Rolling Stones.



The Marvelous City is enjoyed by illustrious residents, including athletes, artists and intellectuals and it offers diverse leisure options for those who live here or those just passing through, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The famous cable car that takes you to the breathtaking view from atop the Sugar Loaf; the adventures of hang gliding; the classic matches at the world symbol for this nation of soccer shoes, Maracanã Stadium; the traditional nightlife of Lapa; the exuberant Marina da Glória; Colombo bakery, the brand of Rio gastronomic value. There are countless leisure options. From the pedal boat rides on the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon to the habitual walks along the Copacabana Boardwalk, the Rio resident participates in every activity the city offers. All this under the watchful blessing of Christ the Redeemer, one of the new Seven Wonders of the World.



FRANÇAIS
LA VILLE
Rio de Janeiro continue réellement belle. La Ville, chaque fois plus Merveilleuse. Avec ses beautés naturelles, un des plus beaux bord de mer du monde, formé par 14 plages, la joie contagieuse et chaleureuse de six millions d'habitants occupant 159 quartiers, une diversité et une vie culturelle unique et effervescente, la carte postal du Brésil reçoit le monde les bras ouverts.

Rio c'est Carioca, c'est brésilien, c'est international. C'est se sentir à la maison, même si vous habitez de l'autre côté du globe et ne parlez pas un seul mot de portugais.

Rio c'est la fête. La ferveur culturelle de la ville est si grande qu'il est fréquent que des évènements s'y déroulent en présence de public dépassant le nombre d'un million de personnes, ce qui peut être confirmé au passage de la Nouvelle Année (Réveillon), au Carnaval, au cours d'événements sportifs tel que le relais du Flambeau Olympique d'Athènes 2004 et dans le cas de concerts de rock sur la plage comme ceux de Live Earth et des Rolling Stones.

Fréquentée par d'illustres habitants, entre eux des sportifs, des artistes et des intellectuels, la Ville Merveilleuse offre diverses options de loisir pour ceux qui sont d'ici ou ceux qui sont de passage, 24 heures sur 24, 7 jours par semaine. Le fameux téléphérique qui vous donne une vue extraordinaire du haut du Pain de Sucre; les aventures en deltaplane; les classiques dans le symbole mondial de la patrie des chaussures de foot, le Maracanã; la traditionnelle bohème de la Lapa; l'exubérante Marina de la Glória; la confiserie Colomb, borne de la mise en valeur de la gastronomie Carioca. Ce sont d'innombrables options de loisir. Des promenades en pédalo sur l'Étang Rodrigo de Freitas aux habituelles promenades sur le Trottoir de Copacabana, le Carioca participe à toutes les activités qui la ville offre. Tout ceci sous la bénédiction du Christ Rédempteur, une des nouvelles Sept Merveilles du monde.


SOURCE by.: Canal de hmviana, www.rio2016.com, BrazilView and PrefeituradoRio

Would you like to learn more about who they were and how the first Americans lived? Come to Brazil.

Would you like to learn more about who they were and how the first Americans lived? Come to Brazil. With sites of about 12 thousand years old, the country is a privileged destination for archeological tourism adepts.



The major Brazilian reference in archeology is the National Serra da Capivara Park, located in the State of Piauí. Created to protect the area where the largest and most ancient archeological set of the Americas is found, it was registered in the list of Humanity’s Cultural and World Heritage in 1991.

In Serra da Capivara, surrounded by grand rocky formations and bushy vegetation, it is possible to see the marks left by pre-historic people. These traces – ceramic vases, utensils in cut and polished stone and above all, stone art, reveal that their authors had great development and technical capacity.

The primitive illustrations, present in over 700 registered sites, form a graphic communications system, one of the first in the world. They show scenes of everyday life, rituals, myths and ceremonies. Although the thematic has been the same over millennia, a more attentive analysis allows one to see the evolution of this art, which shows technical variations in drawing and painting, and in the composition of the scenes.



Other locations spread out throughout Brazil offer good tour options for archeology lovers. In the State of Piauí, it is also worth visiting the Sete Cidades National Park, with its sand walls filled with pre-historic writings of about six thousand years old. In Chapada Diamantina, State of Bahia, there are stone paintings spread out in the caverns of Lapa and Doce, attesting the human presence there ages ago. In the State of Minas Gerais, one can visit the Serra do Cipó national park, where the Danish Peter Lund discovered the mortal remains of the “ Santa Lagoon Man”, who supposedly lived there about 10 years ago. In the state of Mato Grosso, the attraction is Chapada dos Guimarães, with 50 archeological sites already catalogued, and human traces of 12 thousand years old. Finally, we have the Tijuca National Park, in the city of Rio de Janeiro, with 130 historic and archeological sites.

There are countless alternatives. Just choose one, visit and delight yourself with the archeological wealth stored in Brazil. Come, and become a fan!

Serra da Capivara National Park was granted the title of Cultural Heritage of Humanity by Unesco. It was created to preserve one of the world’s largest archaeological treasures: thousands of pre-historic inscriptions from six to 12 thousand years old, engraved on steep rock walls. The pictures portray the everyday aspects, the dances, the rites and ceremonies of the region’s ancient inhabitants, as well as pictures of animals, some of which are extinct. The relief seen today was formed about 240 million years ago.



Researchers found tools, pieces of ceramic utensils and burial sites at the Serra da Capivara excavations. Research on the area’s findings have led archaeologists to believe that man inhabited the American continent more than 30 thousand years ago – contradicting the theories most accepted by scientists up to this day. The cave pictures and the objects found can be seen at some of the sites which are open for visitation, among the 744 existing sites in the Park.

Today, the Serra da Capivara National Park is administered by FUMDHAM – Museum of the American Man Foundation, a private organization, in partnership with IBAMA – Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources. It has an excellent structure for visitation, composed of established trails and specialized guides. The American Man Museum is located in the city of São Raimundo Nonato, a few kilometres from the park. It boasts a collection which consists of articles found during the archaeological digs within the Park.



The most impressive formation is the Toca do Boqueirao da Pedra Furada, a 15m-diameter opening in a wall more than 60 m high – the Park’s postcard. The fauna and flora are very rich and typical representations of the region’s stunted vegetation and semi-arid climate. During the rainy months – from December to May – the vegetation, which seems to be poor during the dry season, flourishes. Spotted leopards, armadillos, guinea pigs, crested seriemas, wildcats, margays, serpents, and bats live harmoniously with cereus, cacti, jujubes, and pepper trees. More than 200 species of birds have already been catalogued here.

You can visit the Park throughout the year, from 6 am to 6 pm. The heaviest concentration of visitors is during the dry season months – from June to December – when visiting conditions favour the observation of the local fauna. The hiring of a certified guide is mandatory, and it is advisable to take caps, sun lotion and water. For overnight stays, it is necessary to obtain authorization from the FUNDHAM and be accompanied by guides designated by the Park’s administration.

Serra da Capivara National Park is an 130-thousand hectare area. It is located in the southeast of the State of Piaui, near the cities of Coronel Jose Dias, Sao Raimundo Nonato, Sao Joao do Piaui, and Joao Costa.



Arriving at the Missions is like travelling through 400 years of history. This going back in time allows one to relive the incredible evangelisation work done by the Priests of the Company of Jesus and their determination to convert the Indians, who inhabited this area of the Americas, into Christians. The Mission People were basically comprised of Guarani and Tape Indians who lived in the region known, today, as the State of Rio Grande do Sul. In 1626, the Jesuits started to divide them into reductions – villages inhabited by Indians and catechisers. Between 1636 and 1639 they were attacked by explorers, but in 1682, they returned and founded the historical Sete Povos das Missões (Seven Peoples Missions). Near São Miguel we find the ruins of three reductions: São Lourenço Mártir, São João Batista and São Nicolau, which together with São Borja, São Luiz Gonzaga and Santo Ângelo complete the Seven Peoples. Over the past three years most of the ruins have been destroyed, although Santo Ângelo – the most recent – houses a magnificent cathedral, a replica of the one found in São Miguel, and an important historical museum. São Miguel was recognized as an Historical and Cultural World Heritage site in 1983, becoming Rio Grande do Sul’s main tourist and cultural attraction where visitors learn about the roots of “Gaucho” formation.





SOURCE BY.: puregon, vodeotv and www.turismo.gov.br

The Palace of Versailles (Part1)

The Palace of Versailles (Part 4)

The Palace of Versailles (Part 3)

The Palace of Versailles (Part 2)

The Palace of Versailles (Part 5)

Birth of a Dynasty

The Medici Pope

The Magnificent Medici

The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance

The Roman Empire in the First Century - Order from Chaos

The Roman Empire in the First Century - Years of Trial

The Roman Empire in the First Century - Winds of Change