Palace of the Eleven Windows

The House of the Eleven Windows Cultural Space (Portuguese: Espaço Cultural Casa das Onze Janelas), initially called Palace of the Eleven Windows (Portuguese: Palacete das Onze Janelas), is a complex composed of a public square and a historical building located in the Brazilian city of Belém, in Pará. Since 2002 in Brazil, the space houses a contemporary art museum, along with a restaurant and a multicultural area. The building, which was built in the 18th century as a resting house for Domingos da Costa Bacelar, is part of the historical complex called Feliz Lusitânia, which corresponds to the initial historical core of the city of Belém do Pará. History The Palace of the Eleven Windows was built in the 18th century as the weekend residence of Domingos da Costa Bacelar, owner of the sugarcane mills located at the mouth of the Guamá River . In 1768, the palace was acquired by the then government of the Captaincy of Grão-Pará to house the Royal Military Hospital, since Belém did not have one yet. However, the building had to be adapted by Italian architect Giuseppe Antonio Landi for hospital use. The hospital functioned in the palace until the end of the 19th century, in the. Architecture and art On the main facade, the two-story building has eleven symmetrically arranged openings in the form of windows and window-doors, with straight lintels and preceded by railings, as well as the main door. The massive volume is divided by a simple entablature with pilasters at the wedges, constituting a robust and simple solution, in the taste of the Portuguese architecture of the plain style period. The facade facing the river is more elaborate, denoting the intervention of Italian architect Antonio Landi, with arched openings in the central body and loggias (galleries) in the.