Nova Jerusalem

Built from the 1960s onward, Nova Jerusalem is a walled stone city of about a third the area of the old city of Jerusalem, with seventy towers and nine permanent stages, put up specifically to stage the Passion. Through Holy Week the audience walks between the stages as the story moves - the entry into Jerusalem, the temple, the trial, Golgotha - with a cast in the hundreds, including professional Brazilian television actors alongside local performers, and a crowd of several thousand a night moving with them. It is routinely described as the largest open-air theatre in the world, a claim based on the scale of the walled site. Outside Holy Week the place is empty and can be walked through as a curiosity, with a sculpture park alongside.

History

It started in 1951, when Epaminondas Mendonça had the idea of re-enacting the life, death and resurrection of Jesus in the streets of Fazenda Nova during Holy Week, inspired by the Passion plays. The open-air theatre city was completed in 1968, with Plínio Pacheco as its director until his death in 2002; it has artificial lakes, nine stages, a 3,500-metre wall and 70 towers, and is considered the largest open-air theatre in the world (Wikipedia, New Jerusalem Theater).

What you'll find

• A stone replica city - walls, seventy towers and nine permanent stages.
• A walking audience - the crowd moving between stages as the story advances.
• A cast of hundreds - television actors alongside local performers.
• An empty set out of season - the site walkable but silent outside Holy Week.

When to go

Holy Week for the performance; the site is open but inert otherwise. A day.

Things to know

Tickets and accommodation in Caruaru sell out well before Holy Week. Performances run for hours, standing and walking, often in heat. Everything is in Portuguese. Outside Holy Week there is very little to see.

Nearby

Caruaru is north-east; Brejo da Madre de Deus is the municipality town.

Key facts