A HIDDEN MUSEUM IN THE MIDDLE OF IBIRAPUERA PARK: Have you already visited the Museum Afro Brasil?

São Paulo is so amazing that even a museum can hide in the middle of the most important park of the city.

A visit to the Museu Afro Brasil is a visual lesson in the history of Brazil and a must-see for anyone interested in learning about Brazilian origins. This is the biggest museum in the country dedicated to Afro-Brazilian culture, with more than 6 million work of arts spread across 7 square meters.

Plastic artist Emanoel Araújo founded the museum in 2004 and donated 5,000 art works from his personal collection to the museum at the time of its inauguration. The museum’s main objective is to recognize and enhance the visibility and appreciation of Brazil’s black population, which nowadays represents officially about 51% of the population of Brazil.

In addition to the many interesting paintings, sculptures and objects spread over three floors, there is one more room that by itself justifies a visit: The museum houses an incredible library (“Biblioteca Carolina de Jesus”) that brings together about 10,000 books, many of them about slavery and abolition.

Every last Saturday of the month, the library organizes meetings called “Aos Pés do Baboá”, which consists of storytelling and readings from the museum’s book collection, accompanied by music played on musical instruments of African origin. These sessions are open to the public, and provide a very special and intense window into this little-known aspect of Brazilian culture.

This month opened the international exhibition "Portugal Portugueses – Arte Contemporânea", curated by Emanoel Araujo. The impressive display gathers 270 works of art and offer to the public a broad overview of Portuguese contemporary art and its relationship with Africa and Brazil. Don't miss the opportunity to visit this beautiful exhibit which will run until January, 8th, 2017.

Don’t miss the chance to get to know the Museu Afro Brasil while you are visiting Parque Ibirapuera! Share your experience with us!

Information

Address: Avenida Pedro Álvares Cabral, Gate 10 - Parque Ibirapuera, São Paulo. By car: enter on Gate3 Tel: (11) 3320-8900 Hours: Tuesday to Sunday, from 10am to 5pm.

Tickets: On Saturdays, admission is free. On other days (except Monday, when the museum is closed), admission costs R $ 6 (full price) and R $ 3 ( half-price ) per person.

Guided visits in English need to be booked a month advanced: agendamento@museuafrobrasil.org.br, on the first business day of the month.

A tip for the little ones: the museum offers periodic educational activities about afro-brazilian culture. For more information, go to: http://www.museuafrobrasil.org.br/programacao-cultural/acoes-educativas

The Ibirapuera park offers “Zona Azul” parking: regulated and paid parking spaces available to users by purchasing “Zona Azul” tickets, which must be bought at vending kiosks in the parking lot or in a newsstand.

Inside the park, each parking ticket will be valid for two hours, and you can use up to two tickets at a time for a stay of up to four hours.