It is amazing!
How wonderful to see these texts again.
Today I can read all these posts written by my students five years ago!
It was an exercise for them. They chose texts in English about Belém and wrote them in this blog.
Let's write more?

Catedral Metropolitana de Belém

The first church in Bethlehem was built temporarily inside the Fort of the Nativity and it was dedicated to Our Lady of Grace. A few years later was transferred to the current Cathedral Square, in a precarious construction. In the following century, in 1719, the Diocese of Maranhao is broken at the request of D. John V and Bethlehem is to host the newly created Diocese of Para, earning the right to honor to his Episcopal church.

The works of the current building, constructed in the same place as the early church began in the year 1748. Around this time the general layout of the church and the lower levels of the facade, including the main portal of feature baroque Pombal. After several interruptions, the direction of the work was taken in 1755 by Antonio Jose Landi, Italian architect came to Bethlehem in 1753, which left vast work in the region. Landi finished the facade, adding the two towers and pediment. Towers, similar to the Church of Mercy in Bethlehem, also designed by Landi, have no parallels in the Luso-Brazilian world and are inspired by models Bolognese, home region of the architect. The stately pediment, flanked by neoclassical pyramidal pinnacles, has a profile more baroque-rococo and contains a niche with a statue of Our Lady. The construction was fully completed in 1782.

In 1882, the interior decoration of the church underwent a radical overhaul ordered by Bishop Antonio de Macedo Costa, when the cathedral has undergone a major change. The original altarpiece, authored by Landi, was character and embodied a rococo painting of Our Lady of Grace written by the eighteenth-century Portuguese painter Pedro de Carvalho Alexandrian. As far as painting the altarpiece are now lost and are known only through drawings.

The current main altar was created in Rome by Luca Carimini in the nineteenth century, while the paintings that decorate the interior were made by the Italian Domenico de Angelis and Giusepe Capranesi. The great organ, the workshop of French Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, was installed in 1882, being the largest organ in Latin America.

The Sé Cathedral of Bethlehem was elevated to the seat of the archdiocese in 1906.

The cathedral is an important part of the traditional celebration of the Cirio de Nazare, the largest procession in the western world. After a Mass in the cathedral, the statue of Our Lady of Nazareth part in a procession from the Cathedral to the Basilica of Our Lady of Nazareth, accompanied by hundreds of thousands of people.

After several years without being subjected to serious measures of conservation, which has deteriorated quite a few aspects of its structure and artistic, the Metropolitan Cathedral of Bethlehem was eventually subjected to restoration in 2005, was reopened to the public on September 1 2009.

by Amanda B. de Sousa 31 de maio de 2010 11:17

Candle of Belém do Pará - History

The devotion to Our Lady of Nazareth began in Portugal. Original image belonged to the Monastery of the Virgin of kaolin, Spain, and had left the town of Nazareth in Israel, in the year 361, having been carved by St. Joseph As a result of a battle, the image was taken to Portugal, where for a long time, was hidden in the Peak of St. Bartholomew. Only in 1119, the picture was found. The news spread and many people began to venerate the Holy. Since then, many miracles were attributed to it.

In Pará, was the Indian Placido José de Souza whom he met in 1700 on the banks of the stream Murutucú (where today stands the Basilica Shrine), a small image of Our Lady of Nazareth. After the find, Placido would have taken the picture for your cottage and the next day, she was no longer there. He ran to the venue and there was little pamphlets. That would have been repeated several times until the image is sent to the Government Palace. At the site of the find, Placido built a small chapel.

In 1792, the Vatican has authorized the holding of a procession in honor of the Virgin of Nazareth, in Belém do Pará Organized by the President of the Province of Para, Captain-General Don Francisco de Souza Coutinho, the first candle was held on September 8 1793. In the beginning, there was no fixed date for the Candle, which could occur during September, October or November. But from 1901, for determination of Bishop Francisco do Rego Maia, the procession began to be held always the second Sunday of October.

by Amanda B. de Sousa 31 de maio de 2010 11:10

Forte do Castelo

This mark of Belém was originally named Fort do Presépio, when it was made of wood and straw, in 1616. In 1622 it was rebuilt in a more solid fashion.

Currently, it houses a museus and offers a panoramic view of Guajará bay. After the last restauration, the name of this historic building reverted to Forte do Presépio.

Posted by: Renato Ferreira and Joao Netto.

Photo: Leonardo Valadares

Urgente!

CAROS ALUNOS,

1. PEÇO QUE ME ENVIEM POR E-MAIL OS NOMES COMPLETOS DOS SEGUINTES COLABORADORES DESTE BLOG, PARA LANÇAMENTO DOS 2,0 PONTOS DESSA ATIVIDADE:
   AMANDA (QUAL DAS DUAS POSTOU COM RENAN??)
   CARMEN
   ANNE
   KAKÁ
   DALVA
   
2. DEIXO COMO PRAZO ATÉ SEGUNDA-FEIRA (31/05) PARA OS ALUNOS DE QUEM NÃO ENCONTREI POSTAGEM:
   AMANDA (A QUE NÃO POSTOU COM RENAN)
   ANA PAULA VELOIS
   ELAINNE CRISTINA LIMA
   ELIZABETH GAIA
   GLEICE ANNE (ESTA DEVE SER A QUE POSTOU APENAS COMO ANNE, PEÇO CONFIRMAÇÃO)
   JOÃO CARLOS MARAMALDO
   JULIANA VILHENA
   KALENA JULIANY
   LINDALVA NOGUEIRA
   MARIA DO CARMO VITOR MARTINS
   RENATO FERREIRA
   ROBERTO ANDERSON
   TIAGO PENCO

LYDIALEM@GMAIL.COM

Belém of the Amazon: Scents, Flavors and Mysteries

Belém, the capital city of Pará, is the principal gateway to the region. It is also one of Brazil’s five largest metropolitan regions. With more than ten thousand trees – mostly mango-trees which form green tunnels even along the streets that carry most of the traffic, and açaí palm trees, Belém offers an array of excursions and tourist events, dozens of cinemas and theatres, including on one Brazil’s biggest and most beautiful theatre houses; open spaces along the rivers that surround the city; eight different environmental parks, important museums and hundreds of cultural and lisure options. For more than 200 years, in each month of October, the city has hosted one of the world's biggest religious events: the Holy Lady of Nazareth Cndle Procession.

The Ver-o-Peso Market, a huge riverfront street market with a mooring port that receives many ships with hundreds of products every day. The name comes from the ancient check points of merchandise inspection.

The Ver-o-Peso Market is a landmark of Belém with its over five hundred species of fishes, countless fruits, craftsmanship and the exotic ladies who sell spells and enchantments, reinforcing the fables and mysteries of Amazonia.

A ride through the Republic and Batista Campos squares, the mango tree tunnels in the Nazaré and Presidente Vargas avenues and the Rodrigues Alves Park (photo) reveal the deep concern with tree coverage and the soothing from the strong tropical heat, which provides a few hours of a delicious and refreshing rain shower.

Located some fifty-four kilometers away from Belém, the island of Mosqueiro has a plethora of river-bathed beaches with waves, completing the harmonious scenery of contrasts and beauties.

These are cultural spaces based on museum concepts covering the city’s bonds with its architecture and history. Close to the Ver-o-Peso Market is the Estação das Docas (photo), with over 32,000 m2, completely air-conditioned, 500 meters of sidewalk by the Guajará Bay, three modernized old warehouses and one dock which belonged to the Port of Belém, restaurants, art galleries, a small brewery, ice-cream shops, handicraft stands, typical food kiosks, coffee bars, a space for fairs and events, a theatre for 400 spectators and a tourist harbor.

During the construction phase, some archeological objects were found that belonged to the small São Pedro Nolasco Fort, a military facility dating back to 1665, which was completely ruined after the Cabanagem War, in 1835. After a minute rescue work, an amphitheatre and an open air mirador were built at the site.

Another must-see is the Pólo Joalheiro, a building dating back to 1749, which was initially a convent and later became a gunpowder deposit, a headquarter, a pottery plant, a hospital, a city jail and a penitentiary.

Now, it has been completely refurbished and houses a Gems Museum, the Jewelry Workshop and the Craftsman House, hence becoming a place of reference for research and culture, thus fostering the production of jewelry by Amazonian designers.

A ride to the old residence of the governors of Pará, revitalized and becoming the Parque da Residência will astonish for housing, in one 12,000 m2 cultural and tourist complex, the Secretary of Culture, an amphitheater, a restaurant, an ice-cream shop in a 19th Century train car, a plaza, a cultural products store, and orchid keeping stand, an European bandstand and the Gasômetro Station, a theater for 400 people built with English iron from the 19th Century.

By: Bianca Gaspar e Marcus Wanzeller

ECO-TOURISM - MARAJÓ

Marajó - Rural and Wild

On the Marajó Island, it is hard to tell where rural life ends and the wildlife begins. Cattle and buffalos (photo) live together in harmony with herons, which peck insects from their furs, and with capybaras. The rich Amazonian biodiversity is everywhere, even in the country farms of this island, located at the mouth of the Amazon River and which is part of a large archipelago of the same name.

From February through May, the rains flood the pasture fields and land vehicles are replaced by water vehicles, using the same roads and amid exuberant vegetation. From May through January, sightseeing of the island will take you both to fresh water beaches and to vestiges of pre-Columbian civilizations. The starting points for so much adventure are Soure and Salvaterra, twin towns located east of the Marajó Island.

In the same archipelago is the Caviana Island, with an area of 5 square kilometers, and the best site for watching the ‘pororoca’, the encounter of the waters of the Amazon River and of the Atlantic Ocean in April and September. There is also the Mexiana Island, equipped with a resort specialized in ecotourism, the right place for a direct contact with the Amazon jungle and the great ‘sea-river’.

By: Bianca Gaspar e Marcus Wanzeller