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Santa Tereza & Selaron Stairs

Santa Tereza & The Selaron Stairs

The Selarón Staircase or Escadaria de Santa Tereza is a staircase located in the Santa Teresa neighborhood, next to the homonymous convent, in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. But let´s talk first about the neighborhood.

 

Santa Tereza Neighborhood

The neighborhood of Santa Teresa is the stronghold of the intelligentsia and art of Rio de Janeiro. A neighborhood perched on the steep slopes of a hill that during the early years of the 20th century experienced its greatest moment of splendor, to which the beautiful mansion houses that can still be admired bear witness. A neighborhood that is recovering its vitality and is once again becoming a point of attraction, although this time for those who seek refuge and tranquility to unleash their creative spirit, to the point that it has earned the title of “Montmartre Carioca” .

Santa Teresa, a neighborhood full of history
What is now a tourist neighborhood, full of charming hotels and restaurants, was in its beginnings a bourgeois neighborhood, where the wealthy classes of Rio de Janeiro society found refuge, which at the top of the hill enjoyed a much milder pleasant climate in summer than on the lower shores of the city.

In Santa Teresa, wealthy people found the ideal space to build their mansions surrounded by gardens and organize elegant parties that brought together the cream of society. The history of Santa Teresa dates back to the 17th century when the hill, covered with dense vegetation, served as an escape route for escaped slaves. At that time, the hill was known by the name of Morro do Desterro because there lived only one person, Don Antônio Gomes do Desterro, who in 1629 built a small hermitage on the top in honor of Our Lady of Exile. Years later, the hermitage was occupied by Marian friars and finally by Italian Capuchin friars.

In 1750, Jacinta and Francisca Rodrigues, two sisters belonging to a wealthy family, decided to consecrate themselves to religious life and built the Convent of Santa Teresa de la Orden de las Carmelitas Descalzas, which was built on the site of the old hermitage. It became the first female convent in Rio de Janeiro. The importance of this convent was such that people got used to calling the hill “the hill of Santa Teresa”, which ended up becoming the name of the neighborhood that emerged around it.

The construction of the Aqueduto da Carioca, known today as the Arches of Lapa, which facilitated the supply of water to that upper part of the city, made the surroundings of the Convent of Santa Teresa populate very quickly, becoming one of the first urban expansions that Rio de Janeiro had. The hill was occupied mainly by the wealthy classes and by European emigrants, who built elegant mansions, many of which still survive and bear witness to the old splendor of the neighborhood.

 

The Tramline of Santa Tereza

In 1872 the tram line (bonde) reached the top of the hill and the “bondinho de Santa Teresa”, as it is affectionately known, became from that moment on the greatest symbol of the neighborhood.

When in the rest of the city, the tram was displaced by the buses, the neighbors managed that the line that crossed over the Arcos de Lapa and reached the top of the Santa Teresa hill was not dismantled, and although its circulation was interrupted due to After two unfortunate accidents that occurred in 2011, the line has gradually recovered its operation (more modern and safer) thanks to the fact that it has been recognized as part of the cultural and historical heritage of Santa Teresa and all of Rio de Janeiro.

 

Why I should visit Santa Teresa?

The Convent of Santa Teresa continues to be the main landmark of the neighborhood and is reached by climbing the colorful steps of the Santa Teresa staircase, better known as the Selarón Staircase, named in honor of the Chilean artist who created it. Another exponent of that artistic spirit that fills every corner.

On Largo dos Guimarães avenue, which is one of the main streets of the neighborhood, there are several shops and stalls selling handicrafts and original objects, and even if you are lucky, especially on weekends, you may stumble upon a jazz concert. Street map. The Largo dos Guimarães is also the center of the parades of the blocos de rua, during the celebration of the Rio de Janeiro Carnival.

Of course, since it is a neighborhood with an artistic character, two of the most interesting places to see in Santa Teresa are the Chácara do Céu Museum, which houses an important collection of works of art, and the Parque das Cultural Center. Ruinas, which throughout the year has a large billboard of shows ranging from classical music concerts to children’s theater.

Santa Teresa has also become an important gastronomic pole. Eating or dining in most of its restaurants is an experience, not only because of its cuisine (there is a variety of them, for all tastes and pockets) but because of its special location. From the terraces of most of its bars and restaurants it is possible to see the city of Rio de Janeiro stretching out at the foot of the Santa Teresa hill, while enjoying the peace offered by these corners surrounded by vegetation and away from the frenetic pace of the big city.

 

escadarias seleron rio de janeiro

 

 

 

The Escadaria Selaron (The Selaron Staircase)

It became known internationally for the striking decoration made by the Chilean plastic artist Jorge Selarón, a work that began in 1990 and continues to be constantly renewed. Considered by its author as a “living and mutant” work, the staircase is 125 meters long and 215 steps, and is completely covered with ceramic pieces of different colors, sizes and shapes. Some of them contain drawings inside.

The Selarón Staircase, or as the braziilan people call it, Escadaria Selarón, had a renovation starting in 1990. Before this, it was a normal Rio de Janeiro staircase, between Lapa and Santa Teresa, but a man named Jorge Selarón decided to renovate it. Lapa is a bohemian and very traditional neighborhood in the center of the city and Santa Teresa is a neighborhood that is on a hill and has a great view of the city.

 

 

Selaron Stairs: Where are located?

The staircase has its base at the corner of Teotônio Regadas and Joaquim Silva, in the Lapa neighborhood. The staircase itself is on Calle Manoel Carneiro, already in the Santa Teresa neighborhood, and culminates next to the church and convent of Santa Tereza, of the order of the Discalced Carmelites. There are also other mosaic works from Selarón along with the Arcos de Lapa.

 

Selaron: the creator

Selarón was born in Limache, V Region, Chile, in 1947 and, after traveling the world and visiting around fifty countries, settled in Rio de Janeiro to begin, in 1990, to shape the staircase that would be known with his name. The artist assured that he only stopped his work “when the materials ran out. Then he painted pictures to earn money and give continuity to the work. He claimed that he painted more than 25,000 pregnant women. “I invented a fantastic new technique, consisting of constantly changing the tiles. This gave it a unique energy, a living and mutant work of art, with more than two thousand different tiles, coming from more than sixty countries”  On January 10, 2013, Jorge Selaron was found dead on the ladder that he himself created.

It is possible to find, in different parts of the Selarón Stairs, the image of a pregnant woman. Whenever he was asked about it, the artist replied that it was related to a problem he had in his past. At the time of the Chilean dictatorship, Selarón left his pregnant wife behind and later discovered that she had died. Thus, this painful event may explain his obsession with the pregnant woman who appears repeatedly in his work. Along with the images of the pregnant black woman, there are usually names of friends, artists, composers and athletes, etc….

 

 

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