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Rodrigues Alves Park

Coordinates: 1°25′50″S 48°27′23″W / 1.43056°S 48.45639°W / -1.43056; -48.45639
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Rodrigues Alves Park
Rodrigues Alves Park
Rodrigues Alves Park is located in Brazil
Rodrigues Alves Park
Map of Rodrigues Alves Park
TypePublic park
LocationBelém, Pará,  Brazil
Coordinates1°25′50″S 48°27′23″W / 1.43056°S 48.45639°W / -1.43056; -48.45639
Area15 ha (37 acres; 0.058 sq mi; 0.15 km2)
Opened25 August 1883
Owned byBelém City Hall
Visitors20,000 visitors a month
OpenTuesday to Sunday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

The Rodrigues Alves Park and Botanical Garden of Amazonia, or simply Rodrigues Alves Park (initially called Marco da Légua Municipal Park)[1] is a Brazilian environmental preservation area located in the Marco neighborhood [pt], in the city of Belém, the capital of the state of Pará.

It was idealized by José Coelho da Gama e Abreu [pt], the Baron of Marajó, and inaugurated in 1883, in the then Province of Grão-Pará, during the reign of Emperor Pedro II of Brazil.[2]

It is home to more than 300 species of plant and 58 species of animal and receives an average of 20,000 visitors a month.[3]

In 2008, it was elevated to the category of Botanical Garden, becoming part of the Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) network of national and international natural and historical preservation spaces.[4]

History

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The Marco da Légua neighborhood

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In 1625, due to Belém's strategic position at the mouth of the Amazon River, the Portuguese set up a commercial tax warehouse, the Casa de Ver-o-Peso [pt],[5][6] to collect taxes on European products imported into Belém,[6] and those exported outside the Amazon (such as drugs from the sertão [pt] and beef from the island of Marajó).[7]

In 1627, the importance of the entrepôt increased with the creation of the first league patrimonial by Governor Francisco Coelho de Carvalho [pt]: a 4110-hectare portion of land (starting on the banks of the Pará and Guamá rivers) donated by the Portuguese Crown to the Belém City Council, to boost population growth towards the interior,[5][8][9] in the region of the Caeté River inhabited since 1613 (now the municipality of Bragança),[10][11] giving rise to the Marco da Légua neighborhood[12] and leveraging a population increase.[13]

The growing importance of the captaincy of Grão-Pará led to the State of Maranhão being renamed the State of Grão-Pará and Maranhão in 1654.[13][14]

The municipal park

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Map of Rodrigues Alves Park.

In August 1883, in the context of the Belle Époque, the Rodrigues Alves Park was inaugurated as a municipal park. This took place during the government of the intendant Antônio Lemos [pt], on the then Bragança road or Marco da Légua road (now Almirante Barroso Avenue [pt], where the construction of the Belém-Bragança Railway [pt] was taking place). The park marked the boundary of the city's first patrimonial league, consolidating its occupation.[15]

The president of the province of Grão-Pará, José Coelho da Gama Abreu, the Baron of Marajó, who, inspired by the large Parisian boulervard Bois de Bolongne, designed a replica in Belém, a symbol of the modernization of Belém at the time.[1][15]

In 1929, the capital's senator and intendant, Antônio de Almeida Facióla [pt] (appointed by Governor Eurico de Freitas Vale [pt]), restored all the works of art and toys in the grove and completed the construction of the wall and railings around it.[16]

In 2002, the park was provisionally registered as the Amazon Botanical Garden by the Brazilian Botanical Gardens Network.[17]

Flora

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The park covers an area of 15 hectares, spread over a rectangular plot that preserves part of the nature that originated in the area before the expansion of Belém in the 1950s. Almost the entire site is covered in vegetation, with the rest covered by historic buildings and farm tracks. The vegetation consists of native forest from the period when the region was not occupied, an area preserved since the end of the 19th century, with plants and trees characteristic of the Amazon. It is estimated that 94% of the vegetation is native forest and 6% exotic plants,[17] with over 10,000 trees of more than 300 species.[3]

There are centenary trees in the park, such as a quariquara that is around 400 years old and a maçaranduba that is 150 years old. There are also white carapanauba, marupá, Pará rubber trees (the source of natural rubber), andiroba, used in the region for medicinal purposes, and endangered species such as cedro-faia, rajado angelim, and tanibuca.[18]

Fauna

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The fauna is exclusively made up of animals from the Amazon rainforest, with animals in captivity or semi-captivity and a few in the wild (free fauna), bringing together around 435 animals. The fauna consists of various mammals (3 captives + 8 free fauna), birds (11 captivity+6 free fauna), amphibians (5 in free fauna), reptiles (10 captivity+7 free fauna), fishes (5 in captivity), and insects. It has a bird nursery. It also runs wildlife management programs and environmental education projects.[19]

Among the birds that live in the native forest area are piranga and scarlet macaw, parrots, jandaias, marianhinas, maitaca, parakeets, maracanã, and the great blue macaw, an endangered species.[19]

The chelonians that live there, among aquatic and terrestrial species, include tracajá, muçuã, Amazonian turtle, irapuca, jabuti machado, peremas, red-footed jabuti, and yellow-footed jabuti. For the reptiles, there are alligators.[19]

Mammals present are the prego and cheiro monkeys, and Amazonian manatee.[19]

Historical heritage

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Entrance gate and ticket office.

The Rodrigues Alves Park has been listed as an architectural and landscape monument by the state since 1982.[20]

The Park still preserves original 19th-century structures, such as the monumental gate at the main entrance, the monument to the municipal intendants, the statue to the legendary forest guardians Mapinguari and Curupira, the Chinese kiosk, the soapstone cave, and the artificial lakes.[21]

In 1985, a 19th-century iron chalet [pt] was restored and transferred to the park, where it still stands today.[22]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Correa, Homero (2014). "A representação social de áreas verdes em cidades: o caso Bosque Rodrigues Alves - Jardim Botânico da Amazônia" [The social representation of green areas in cities: the case of Rodrigues Alves Park - Amazon Botanical Garden]. Margens. 8 (11). Archived from the original on 12 November 2024.
  2. ^ Silveira, Flávio (2014). Paisagens do Bosque Rodrigues Alves, Belém (PA): considerações sobre a conservação do patrimônio urbano no contexto amazônico [Landscapes of Rodrigues Alves Woods, Belém (PA): considerations on the conservation of urban heritage in the Amazon context] (in Portuguese). Vol. 7. Belém: Antíteses. Archived from the original on 16 November 2024.
  3. ^ a b "Sobre o Bosque" [About the Park]. SEMMA. Archived from the original on 29 May 2024. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
  4. ^ Souza, Lueni (2016). O Bosque Rodrigues Alves como patrimônio cultural: o processo de urbanização de Belém e a (res)significação da paisagem urbana [The Rodrigues Alves Park as cultural heritage: Belém's urbanization process and the (re)signification of the urban landscape] (PDF) (in Portuguese). São Luís: XVIII Encontro Nacional de Geógrafos. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 April 2023.
  5. ^ a b Chaves, Celma; Gonçalves, Ana Paula (2013). O mercado público em Belém: arquitetura e inserção urbanística [The public market in Belem: architecture and urban insertion] (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 September 2022.
  6. ^ a b "Ver-o-Peso (PA)". IPHAN. Archived from the original on 7 October 2024. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
  7. ^ "Mercado de carne vai sair em duas etapas". Diário Online. 29 May 2012. Archived from the original on 28 February 2018. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
  8. ^ Pinheiro, Andrea (2015). Relatório de Pesquisa: Caracterização e Quadros de Análise Comparativa da Governança Metropolitana no Brasil: arranjos institucionais de gestão metropolitana (Componente 1) [Research Report: Characterization and Comparative Analysis of Metropolitan Governance in Brazil: institutional arrangements for metropolitan management (Component 1)] (PDF) (in Portuguese). IPEA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 August 2024.
  9. ^ Cardoso, Ana Cláudia; Ventura Neto, Raul (2013). A evolução urbana de Belém: trajetória de ambiguidades e conflitos socioambientais [The urban evolution of the city of Belém: a trajectory of ambiguities and socio-environmental conflicts] (in Portuguese). Vol. 15. São Paulo: Cadernos Metrópole. Archived from the original on 19 October 2022.
  10. ^ Silvestrin, Celsi; Noll, Gisele; Jacks, Nilda (2017). Capitais brasileiras: dados históricos, demográficos, culturais e midiáticos [Brazilian capitals: historical, demographic, cultural and media data] (in Portuguese). Curitiba: Appris. ISBN 9788547302917.
  11. ^ "Bragança". IBGE. Archived from the original on 19 October 2022. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
  12. ^ Palheta, Joao; Medeiros, Hugo (2016). "O Traçado da Linha da Primeira Légua Patrimonial (LPLP) e da Linha de Preamar Média (LPM) de 1831 da Cidade de Belém". Belém dos 400 Anos: Análises Geográficas e Impactos Antropogênicos na Cidade (in Portuguese). Belém: GAPTA/UFPA. ISBN 9788563117328.
  13. ^ a b Tavares, Célia (2006). A escrita jesuítica da história das missões no Estado do Maranhão e Grão-Pará (século XVII) [Jesuit writing on the history of the missions in the state of Maranhão and Grão-Pará (17th century)] (PDF) (in Portuguese). Rio de Janeiro: ANPUH. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 April 2023.
  14. ^ Silva, José (2002). O Modelo Pombalino de Colonização da Amazónia [The Pombaline Model for Colonizing Amazonia] (in Portuguese). Coimbra: Universidade de Coimbra. Archived from the original on 27 April 2015.
  15. ^ a b Passos, Marcos (12 January 2022). "Bosque Municipal: um espaço verde inscrito na história da construção de Belém" [Bosque Municipal: a green space inscribed in the history of the construction of Belém]. Belém.com.br. Archived from the original on 18 October 2022. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
  16. ^ Projeto Laboratório Virtual - FAU ITEC UFPA (24 September 2011). "O Intendente Senador Antonio Facióla". Laboratório Virtual - FAU ITEC UFPA. Archived from the original on 3 December 2023. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
  17. ^ a b "Quem Somos" [About us]. SEMMA. Archived from the original on 9 May 2023. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
  18. ^ "Flora". SEMMA. Archived from the original on 10 May 2023. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
  19. ^ a b c d "Fauna". SEMMA. Archived from the original on 18 April 2024. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
  20. ^ "Belém – Conjunto Arquitetônico e Paisagístico do Bosque Municipal Rodrigues Alves" [Belém - Rodrigues Alves Municipal Park Architectural and Landscape Complex]. Ipatrimônio. Archived from the original on 23 September 2024. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
  21. ^ "Um fragmento da Amazônia no coração de Belém" [A fragment of the Amazon in the heart of Belém]. Agéncia Belém. 12 January 2017. Archived from the original on 4 July 2018. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
  22. ^ "Bosque reconstrói chalé" [Park rebuilds chalet]. Diário do Pará (n. 854). 16 August 1985. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
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