Ipiranga Museum

The Museu do Ipiranga stands above the stream where Pedro I is said to have declared independence from Portugal in September 1822, and the building - a monumental palace in Italian eclectic style finished in 1890 - was put up to mark it. Its central hall holds Pedro Americo's Independencia ou Morte, an enormous 1888 canvas that fixed the scene in the national imagination and shows an event considerably grander than the one that occurred. The museum closed in 2013 as the building deteriorated and reopened in September 2022 for the bicentenary, with new underground galleries added beneath the forecourt and the collection rehung around the history of Sao Paulo and the country rather than around the founding scene alone.

The main sights

• Independencia ou Morte - Pedro Americo's 1888 canvas in the central hall.
• A palace built for the event - the 1890 building above the Ipiranga stream.
• New underground galleries - added beneath the forecourt in the restoration.
• A rehung collection - the history retold beyond the founding scene.

When to go

All year, closed Mondays. Half a day.

What to expect

Tickets are timed and weekends sell out - book ahead. The walk up from the metro is longer than it looks and the gardens are exposed. Labelling is mostly Portuguese with partial English. The building is large and a full visit takes several hours.

Nearby

The Ipiranga gardens surround it; Liberdade and the centre are north-west.

Key facts