Solar da Marquesa de Santos

This eighteenth-century townhouse is one of the few surviving colonial residences in central São Paulo, once home to the Marchioness of Santos, a famous figure at the imperial court. Its long low facade and interior rooms have been restored to house the city museum's exhibits on urban history. Displays trace the growth of São Paulo from a small colonial settlement to a vast metropolis. Standing near the cathedral and the old civic core, the mansion offers a rare glimpse of the domestic architecture of the town's early centuries.