The best museums Recife

The museum was founded in 1979 by Gilberto Freyre as a result of the merger of three other museums: the Museum of Anthropology (1961-1978), the Museum of Popular Art (1955-1978) and the Sugar Museum (1963-1978). It is a reference in the whole region, especially for its research in the areas of anthropology, sugar culture and popular art. Origins, works, beliefs, habitat, habits and customs that reveal the cultural diversity of the Nordeste.

The museum has been housed since 1940 in the beautiful Palacete, a 19th century building in the Graças district, the former residence of Dr. Augusto Frederico de Oliveira, son of the Baron of Beberibe. It has an important and varied collection of pieces related to the history of the State from its creation in the 16th to the 19th century: war relics, furniture, jewels, coins, paintings, instruments, etc. Important collection of art from the colonial and Dutch periods.

The "fantasias" of the Rio Carnival are world-famous, those of the Recife and Olinda Carnivals are less so. Like the "giants" of the carnivals of the North, the large dolls that parade through the streets of Recife and Olinda during the carnival rest in this museum the rest of the year. They are made up of singers, actors, politicians and showbiz figures, and there are many personalities whose effigies have been transformed into these big men.

In the old quarter of Boa Vista, close to the city centre, the city's Museum of Modern Art hosts temporary national and international exhibitions. The building, like a district, or even a city that seemed to be falling into disuse, has been tastefully renovated and honours the city's artistic policy since 2001. It has three floors and seven exhibition rooms, an auditorium and a library specializing in modern art.