| São Luís - Historical Buildings - Cristo Rei Palace |
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Façade of Cristo Rei Palace
garden of Cristo Rei Palace |
Palácio Cristo Rei was built in the middle of the 19th century and can
be considered a sample of the baroque architecture of that time. It has two floors. On the ground floor there’s a big corridor of lateral windows,
which simplifies the environment internal illumination, and pavement made of ceramic tiles. On the superior floor there’s a balcony and pavement
made with pedra de cantaria (a kind of ornamental stones). The iron grates have details carved in pedra de lioz (another ornamental stone).
It was built to serve as residence to the family of comendador José Joaquim Teixeira
Vieira Belfort. In 1900, the house was sold to Joaquim Baptista do Prado, American vice-consul and dealer, who bankrupted and commited suicide in
1908. The building was then auctioned and bought by Coronel Francisco Xavier de Carvalho.
The coronel’s family lived in the house until the 20’s, when Palácio Cristo Rei was
sold to the Bishop Helvécio Gomes de Oliveira, who started to rent the place to different institutions, among then the Escola de Jesuítas, Escola
de Aprendizes Marinheiros and Escola Normal do Estado.
O actual palace’s name - Cristo Rei - was adopted when it became the seat of the
Archbishop Congress of São Luís, in 1953. Soon after, the church gave the palace so it could house the Faculdade de Filosofia do Maranhão (Faculty
of Philosophy of Maranhão). During the 70’s, the University reformed the palace and brought to the gardens an english fountain, originally used
in the water supplying of São Luís.
In 1991, the building was almost completely destroyed during a fire. On the tragedy,
French paintings owned by Artur Azevedo, besides ceramic pieced from the colonial period, were lost. One year later, the palace was restored and
up to nowadays it’s the seat of Memorial Cristo Rei, kept by Universidade Federal do Maranhão. |
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