Catete Palace

Catete Palace is a sumptuous nineteenth-century mansion that served as the seat of the Brazilian presidency for six decades. Built between 1858 and 1867 for a wealthy coffee baron, its granite-and-marble Neoclassical façade and richly decorated salons made it one of the grandest private houses in Rio de Janeiro before the state acquired it in 1897.

Its significance is national. From 1897 to 1960 the palace was the official workplace and residence of Brazil's presidents, and it was here in 1954 that President Getúlio Vargas took his own life in a bedroom now preserved as it was found, a room that remains a focus of the country's political memory. When the capital moved to Brasília, the building became the Museum of the Republic.

The palace sits in the Catete district of southern Rio, between downtown and the beaches, close to a metro station and a short ride from Flamengo and Botafogo. Behind the house spreads a shaded public garden with ponds and palms, a tranquil pocket amid the dense neighbourhood.

For visitors, the museum tells the story of the Republic through the ornate state rooms, period furnishings and exhibits on Brazil's political history, alongside changing cultural displays. The gardens are free to enter and popular with local families, while the palace interior carries a modest fee. Opening hours exclude Mondays, so plan accordingly. Combined with a walk to the Largo do Machado or the nearby Glória church, a visit offers a quieter, history-rich counterpoint to Rio's beaches, and a vivid sense of the decades when this elegant house sat at the centre of the nation's affairs. The bronze eagles crowning its roofline gave the building its old nickname, the Palace of the Eagles, a name still used affectionately by residents of the district.