Historic Salvador, Brazil

"It is said that the heart of Brazil is Rio. But everyone knows that the soul of Brazil is Bahia."

Salvador, Bahia

According to old Portuguese records, the city was founded in 1549 on a hill dominating a huge bay. Nature was more than generous when she created the beauty to be found along Salvador’s more than 30 miles of beaches and in its ecological parks.

Until 1763, this was the capital of the Portuguese Crown in the Americas, not to mention the biggest port in the southern hemisphere throughout the 18th century.

It soon acquired two other functions: port of call on the Portuguese route to the Far East and the center for export of sugar. These functions contributed to the growth of a mixed population of Portuguese and Africans, imported in huge numbers to work on the sugar plantations.

The historic center of Salvador

Here, more than anywhere else in the country, the African influence in the makeup of the culture is readily visible.

From the spicy dishes still called by their African names (caruru, vatapa, acaraji), to the ceremonies of candomble which honor both African deities and Catholic holidays, to the capoeira schools where a unique African form of ritualistic fighting is taught.

Pelourinho

The first wall was incapable of containing the city for very long, and even in the sixteenth century was extended to protect the Jesuit College, the Franciscan Convent and the community which had formed around them. Outside the wall were another two large monasteries and communities: Carmo to the north, and São Bento to the south.

One of the most characteristic public spaces of this city was the area that existed before the construction of the Carmo Gates, known as the Pelourinho (Pillory). The streets which ran down to the gates ended in a sloping, triangular shaped open space, which continued down towards Carmo.

It is like a city within a city, the old city of colorful colonial buildings, cobblestoned streets and a sense of history clustered around the Largo do Pelourinho, also known as Praça José de Alencar.

Nicknamed Pelo by residents this area is in the older part of the upper city, or Cidade Alta, of Salvador. It ecompasses several blocks around the triangular Largo, and it is now the location for music, dining and nightlife.

Pelourinho means whipping post in Portuguese, and this was the old slave auction location in the days when slavery was common. Slavery was outlawed in 1835. The name came from a stone monument erected there, in early times a symbol of justice and municipal autonomy, but which early colonial rule transformed into an instrument of oppression. This open space, which is a mixture of square, Mediterranean belvedere and African religious courtyard, gave its name to what was preserved of the historic center of Salvador. Pelourinho has a place on the national historic register and named a world cultural center by UNESCO.

The discovery of gold and precious stones in central Brazil in the early eighteenth century brought more wealth to the city, and many buildings were constructed or refurbished in a more opulent style. Most of the churches of the religious orders, with their golden altarpieces and fine collections of baroque paintings, date from this period.

Until the end of the nineteenth century, when a crisis hit the sugar industry, the old city was preserved intact. In the second decade of the twentieth century, the expansion of the port of Salvador and the widening of its access points started a process of modernization in the southern half of the colonial city.

The northern part was not involved and was therefore preserved, but it entered into a slow process of impoverishment as its original inhabitants fled to new middle class suburbs further out. The 1930s saw more squalor and poverty.

The earliest action to restore the area came in 1967, with the setting up of a fund for this purpose. A fifteen year program directed towards tourism and social assistance failed to resolve the problem. During the difficult 1980s, the government withdrew investment and the area slipped even faster towards physical and social degradation.

But the revival of the traditional blessing of St Francis and the rehearsals and shows of groups of black musicians and dancers, such as Filhos de Gandhi, Olodum and Levada do Pelô, began to attract large numbers of people to the area and drew the attention of other sections of society.

From 1992 onwards, the government of the state of Bahia started to carry out a large scale project for the restoration of the area, including the renewal of its infrastructure and the adaptation of many of its historic buildings for the purposes of tourism.

The Restoration Plan for the Historic Center of Salvador is the largest program of its kind ever undertaken in Brazil, and is notable for having been financed by the state government. Up to mid 1996, around 24 million US$ had been invested by the state of Bahia, as well as the financial concessions allowed to traders in return for setting up businesses.

These funds have paid for the restoration of 334 large houses and the reconstruction of nine ruins. But the program has also had a high social cost. Some inhabitants had to abandon their houses and the new traders complain of the seasonal nature of tourism. That being said, there is no doubt that Salvador is well on its way to becoming a stable cultural attraction both nationally and internationally.

Salvador’s own population and young tourists have rediscovered the area of Pelourinho, attracted by its bars and an intensive cultural program. Traditional cultural values are being revived by the inhabitants and the distinctive and original characteristics of its colorful past are discovered by new generations.

Despite all the vicissitudes through which it has passed, Pelourinho continues to be a feast of people, color, music and magic.

Historic Center of Salvador, Bahia