Story
The Nova Friburgo Palace, currently the Catete Palace, built between 1858 and 1867 by the merchant and coffee farmer Antônio Clemente Pinto, Baron of Nova Friburgo, established itself as a monument of great historical, architectural and artistic importance. Built in Rio de Janeiro, then the Imperial Capital, it became a symbol of the economic power of the slave-owning coffee-producing elite in 19th century Brazil. Its eclectic style design is the result of the work of renowned foreign artists, such as the architect Gustav Waehneldt and the painters Emil Bauch, Gastão Tassini and Mario Bragaldi. In 1889, twenty years after the death of the Baron and his wife, the Palace was sold to the Companhia do Grande Hotel Internacional and, later, before any hotel company was installed on the property, it was sold to the Company’s largest shareholder, the counselor Francisco by Paula Mayrink. On April 18, 1896, during the term of President Prudente de Moraes, at the time held on an interim basis by Vice-President Manuel Vitorino, the Palace was acquired by the Federal Government to host the Presidency of the Republic, previously installed in the Itamaraty Palace.

To receive the presidents and their families, extensive renovation was carried out under the guidance of engineer Aarão Reis. It was attended by important Brazilian painters such as Antônio Parreiras and Décio Villares and the landscaper Paul Villon, who was responsible for the remodeling of the gardens. The installation of electric light in the Palace, since then, would accentuate the brightness of the political and social events that would take place there.

Also called Palácio das Águias, Palácio do Catete was the scene of intense political articulations, such as the declarations of war against Germany, in 1917, and the Axis, in 1942, and, in that same year, the implementation of Cruzeiro as a national monetary system. . Among the great social events, the reception to the Kings of Belgium, in 1920, and the hosting of Cardinal Pacelli, later Pope Pius XII, in 1934, stand out. , wife of President Hermes da Fonseca, during which the famous “Corta-Jaca” by Chiquinha Gonzaga, composer and conductor from Rio de Janeiro, was performed. For the first time popular music was performed in the halls of an aristocratic manor.

Memories of moments of national consternation and commotion also emerge from the Palace, such as the wake of President Afonso Pena, in 1909, and the suicide of Getúlio Vargas, in 1954, the outcome of one of the most incisive republican political-military crises. In 1938, during the Estado Novo, the Palace and its gardens were listed by the National Historic and Artistic Heritage Service – currently the National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute (IPHAN). Seat of Republican Power for almost 64 years, 18 presidents have used its facilities. It was up to Juscelino Kubitschek to end the presidential era of the building, with the transfer of the Federal Capital to Brasília on April 21, 1960. The Palácio do Catete, based on a Presidential Decree of March 8, 1960, was then organized to house the Museum of the Republic, opened on the 15th of November of the same year.

Garden
The Catete Palace was built in the 19th century, in the so-called “Caminho do Catete”, current Catete neighborhood, a region that emerged with the grounding of an area covered by mangroves.
Once the construction of the Palace had begun, the Baron of Nova Friburgo acquired new lands, incorporating the area at the back of the land and the central alley of the park, where the palm trees existed until today. According to some historians, both the gardens of the Palace and the São Clemente Palace, in Nova Friburgo, also owned by the Baron, would have been designed by the French landscaper Auguste Marie Françoise Glaziou.

The remodeling of the Palace garden for its occupation by the headquarters of the National Executive Power was under the coordination of Paul Villon, disciple of the French landscaper Auguste Marie Françoise Glaziou, with whom Villon had already worked at the time of the reform of Campo da Aclamação, current Praça of the Republic.
An old pavilion in the park was transformed into a bandstand, following the trend of public spaces so much in vogue at the time. Dependencies were also built for the butlers and servants of the presidency, currently the residences of former employees and their families. Still in the park, a cavalry picket and stables would be adapted, close to the entrance to Praia do Flamengo, in the place where the Museum’s Technical Reserve building is today.

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Catete Palace: Museum of the Republic

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Catete Palace: Museum of the Republic

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