Berlin in Belém

The Amazon, was once the world's largest producer of rubber. That was long, long ago, and Belém on the mouth of the Amazon river the port of entry to this vast hinterland. The Portuguese had to fortify the area to fight back Dutch and French invaders coming from the North. Originally, this all belonged to the Tupinambas! The Portuguese allied themselves with the natives and managed to establish themselves with enough fortifications to control efficiently their claims in this part of the New World.

With the onset of the industrial revolution, rubber became more and more necessary and it made rubber barons in the Amazonian tropics from Belém to Manaus. This money brought in culture, and new theatre houses designed and built to match the best in Europe. In both cities many buildings and general urban infrastructure were built with rubber money.

Walking around town in Belém, you can see all kinds of foreign influence including the traditional designs of the Portuguese 'azulejos' (tiles) on the exterior walls of colonial town houses to French-style 'marquises' over commercial shops downtown.Giuseppe Antonio Landi, an architect recruited by the king of Portugal, D. João V, moved to Belém moved from Bologna, Italy to the this amazonian city where he built churches, palaces, and set himself up a farm where he lived until his death, never more returning to Europe! Belém and the province of Pará, was the most 'Portuguese' part of the Brazilian colony of the Portuguese empire, the last to acknowledge and join newly declared independent Brazil, only a year after the fact....! 

Paris in America. 

Because of its close ties to Europe, and cultural development, Belém became known as 'Paris in America'. A shop downtown comemorated this, back in 1870, being a 'must' for monsieurs et mesdames  wanting to buy fine imported fabrics. The shop is said to be a mini-version of Galleries Lafayette, and is called Paris n'América.

However, it was in Praça da República, the downtown square where the Municipal Theatre is found,  that my attention was caught by a series of sculptures which would probably passed pass unnoticed to most. In definitely Art Deco 30's style you can see 4 large sculptures. On at least one of them  is the foundry's signature - Guss Martin & Piltzing of Berlin. The foundry is very well known, being one of the four companies chosen to deliver medals, bronzes, memorabilia and souvenir items for the 1936 Olympic Games ! 

How did these sculptures end up in the Amazon? This is still a mystery. One explanation given by a local Venezuelan hippie who sells his souvenirs on the square is that local port customs authorities found these on a ship with no accompanying papers. They were thus apprehended, however no one ever came to claim them . Eventually the city council decided to put them in the square for exhibit.