São Luís

Lat: -2.530730555555600, Long: -44.306819444444000

São Luís

Maranhão, Brazil

Historical Background and Urbanism

São Luís is the capital of the State. It was a capital in the broad sense of the word for 135 years, from the foundation of the State of Maranhão and Grão-Pará (1621), which encompassed the entire northern region of Brazil from Ceará to Amazonia, until the Pombaline reforms (1756), which changed its name to the State of Grão-Pará and Maranhão and moved the capital to Belém do Pará. It has been the capital on four occasions: the first time, when it was the capital of the somewhat mysterious colony of the City of Nazaré, founded in 1536 on the orders of the donatory-captain of Maranhão João de Barros, the writer and factor of the Casa da Índia, whose 2 sons lived there for over 5 years (1556-c.1565) before it was abandoned; the second time, when it was named Fort Saint-Louis in honour of King Louis XIII of France, when the captain and corsair Daniel de la Touche, Seigneur de la Ravardière (who had lived there with many French slave traders before 1604), attempted to found a colony – Equinoctial France – to shelter the Huguenots (1612), but had to abandon it due to the Franco-Spanish political alliance and the unstoppable advance of the Portuguese troops from Pernambuco in the course of their “Miraculous Journey”, which retook the entire northern coast of Brazil within two years (1614-1615); a third time, after its establishment as a Portuguese city (1615) until independence; and finally at the present time, after Maranhão was demoted to the status of a province with the granting of independence (1822; State, in the Republic). The fact that the name that it had received from a foreign colonising country was officially maintained is unique. It was probably related to the number of French citizens living there. The city was built overlooking the sea, on a 30-metre- high headland between river inlets. A terrace containing the fortress, the Government Palace, Town Hall, law courts and Cathedral made up its political and religious heart, like an Acropolis, and was given the name of Ter- reiro do Paço (the present-day Avenida Dom Pedro II). From there, one moved down steep slopes to Praia Grande, the port and commercial district, continuing on to Portinho do Bacanga, a fishing district, and inland towards the plateau and the residential quarters. It was laid out by Frias de Mesquita (1615) in a grid system. He traced the layout of the streets in the soil and built a model house. The streets were 13.2 metres (6 braças) wide, with pavements, while the plots of land were 11 metres at the front by 33 metres deep (5 x 15 braças) and could be joined together. The old city (the present-day Bairro do Centro) grew along those lines until 1970, when the construction of the José Sarney Bridge in the estuary of the River Anil made it possible to open a road to the other bank and expand into the beach area, where a new urban centre emerged. The historical centre of São Luís – which is over 1 kilometre long and has around 1000 buildings – has been classified as a World Heritage City by unesco since 1997. According to the Ambassador Pedro Theotónio Pereira, the first director of the Gulbenkian Foundation (1958), “it is the most Portuguese city in Brazil”.

Religious Architecture

Military Architecture

Equipment and Infrastructures

Housing

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