!!!Paraty

by Dmitry Moiseenko and
Stas Sedov,
members of the [AirPano Team|Geography/About/Consortium/AirPano,_Team] that is a member of the [global-geography Consortium|Geography/About/Consortium]. \\

21 November 2016

with kind permission of [AirPano|http://www.AirPano.com]

Incredible Venice is the most famous city in the world situated across a
group of islands that are separated by canals and rivers. In a similar
way, the other city of Europe, Saint-Petersburg, is also known as
"Northern Venice". But South America has its own "Venice" as well!

The town of Paraty is often called "Brazilian Venice". The name itself
is Indian for "fishy river" and in this way was called the area on the
coast of the Atlantic Ocean. In the middle of the 17th century the
Portuguese colonizers came here and founded a settlement bearing the
same name which became a stronghold for the further conquest of the
country.

[{Image src='01_Paraty.jpg' caption='Paraty, Brazil' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='583'}]

In 1695 one of these expeditions accidentally found rich gold mines in
the state of Minas Gerais and the nearby settlement Paraty became a
major port and the center of the "Gold Rush": it was the very place the
galleons loaded with gold and diamonds departed from and headed straight
to Portugal. On the one hand, it gave a powerful impulse for the
development of the city, but on the other, the area drew pirates'
attention. As a result, the exporting port was moved to the bigger and
safer city of Rio-de-Janeiro. Paraty in its turn became a simple
provincial town.

[{Image src='02_Paraty.jpg' caption='Paraty, Brazil' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='289'}]

It seems that time has stopped here since then. The ancient town
planning has been preserved and the buildings that needed to be
renovated have been carefully restored. Now Paraty is a kind of an
open-air museum revealing the history of the colonial period
architecture and town-planning.

Paraty is surrounded from three sides by mountains and gradually
descends to the sea. That is why at the time of extremely high tides the
streets are filled with water and it makes the town the "Brazilian
Venice".

[{Image src='03_Paraty.jpg' caption='Paraty, Brazil' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='583'}]

The historical center is closed for cars; streets are paved with stones
and roofs of the houses are tiled. The main church of the city is the
Cathedral of Nossa Senhora do Remédios (First Church of Our Lady of the
Remedies); it was built in the end of the 18th century mostly for
wealthy citizens who managed to make a fortune at the time of the Gold
Rush. Their luxurious houses are standing on the square neighboring the
Cathedral.

At that time social differentiation in Paraty was dramatic: slaves had
to visit the smallest church in the town called Igreja de Nossa Senhora
do Rosário (Church of Our Lady of the Rosary) and located on the street
of Rua do Comercio. Meanwhile the noble people preferred the exquisite
Capela de Nossa Senhora das Dores (Chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows) near
the coast. The oldest church of Paraty is Capela de Santa Rita (Chapel
of Saint Rita) located in the southern district of the town and built in
1722 for mulattoes. The front face of the building is considered to be
the perfect example of the Portuguese Baroque.

[{Image src='04_Chapel of Saint Rita. The oldest church of Paraty.jpg' caption='Chapel of Saint Rita. The oldest church of Paraty' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='583'}]

In 1966 Paraty was listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO for being a
significant historical complex of the colonial architecture. In addition
to this, the city is also interesting for having a lot of natural
sights: more than 300 beaches and 70 islands in the bay.

Have a tour to this remarkable and remote corner of the Earth together
with AirPano!

\\ \\
[7 Panoramas of Paraty|Geography/America/Brazil/Pictures/Panoramas_of_Paraty]











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