Paco Imperial (Imperial Palace)

The Paco Imperial stands on Praca XV de Novembro in Rio de Janeiro's Centro, facing Guanabara Bay, and is one of the oldest surviving civil buildings in Brazil. Construction began in the 1730s and the palace was completed in 1743 as the residence of the colonial governors of the captaincy, in a sober Portuguese colonial style with whitewashed walls, stone framing and a long, low facade. When the Portuguese court fled Napoleon's armies and arrived in Rio in 1808, the building became the royal residence of Prince Regent Joao, later King Joao VI, and Rio effectively became the capital of the Portuguese empire. After Brazilian independence in 1822 it served Emperor Pedro I and Pedro II as the Paco da Cidade, used for audiences, ceremonies and the business of the imperial government. Several decisive moments of Brazilian history are tied to the palace, including the events surrounding the Dia do Fico in January 1822 and the signing of the Lei Aurea, which abolished slavery, by Princess Isabel in May 1888. After the fall of the monarchy in 1889 the building was used by the postal and telegraph services, and it decayed over the following decades. A major restoration completed in the 1980s by the national heritage agency IPHAN, guided by archaeological and documentary research, returned the facade and interiors to their historic appearance and opened the building as a cultural centre. Today the palace hosts temporary exhibitions of Brazilian art and history in its high-ceilinged rooms around a central courtyard, along with a bookshop, a cinema and cafes. There is no single permanent collection; the approach is thematic and changes with each exhibition, while the architecture itself is the main historical exhibit. Visitors can read interpretive panels on the building's role in the monarchy and the empire, and can view sections where the restoration exposed earlier construction layers. The square outside was the scene of public proclamations and ceremonies, and the palace remains a natural first stop for anyone tracing the story of the Portuguese court in Rio de Janeiro.