Meat Market in Belém

The Meat Market and its history

The history of the Meat Market is old, dating back to 1867 when it was built in brickwork. The Municipal Market of Belém is a square between Rua November 16 and Boulevard Castilho França. Due to the intense commercial movement that taxed the newly opened Iron Market, or Fish Market, across the street, from 1901, local authorities felt the need to promote structural and sanitation improvements in the old building of the Municipal Market.

The works were entrusted to the engineer Francisco Bolonha, who, build a second floor with rooms for stocking products over old masonry building, installed in its courtyard a beautiful architectural ensemble of iron imported from Scotland, smelting Walter Macfarlane & Co., composed of four large pavilions, a small cottage and a structure that primarily served to support the water tank and which became, after disabled, a magnificent overlook with winding staircase. The inauguration of the new premises of the Municipal Market was held in December 17, 1908 and is intended mainly to marketing of meat came to be called, with time, the Meat Market.

This impressive example of architecture of the iron in Brazil is a must stop for anyone visiting Belém and demand to know a little of its history. It is noteworthy that the building was recently restored by the federal government.

See: Era do ferro

Casa de Haver o Peso

Ver-o-peso

Ver-o-peso market is a market hall in Belém, Brazil located at Guajará Bay riverside.

It is called "Ver-o-Peso" following a colonial era tradition, since the tax collector's main post was located there, which was called "Casa do Haver-o-peso" ("Have-the-Weight House"). It was in the "Haver-o-peso house" that the taxes over goods brought from the Amazon forests, rivers and countryside should be paid to the Portuguese crown, but only after their weight was measured, hence the name, which later suffered a contraction.

Nowadays, the Ver-o-peso complex contains the Açaí Fair, a free open market where açaí berry merchants sell the fruit in natura for açaí juice shops, the Clock Square, with an iron-cast clock tower brought from England, the Ver-o-peso docks, where native fishes from Amazon are unloaded from boats and sold fresh, the Iron Market, a gothic prefab structure where fish is sold, the Solar da Beira space, a colonial building where art expositions often take place, and the neoclassical Meat Market, across the street, with iron-cast stairs and cubicles. There's also the free market, where craftsmanship, natural essence parfums, typical food and native fruits are sold.

IIt is located a few meters away from Feliz Lusitânia complex, a gathering of 16th and 18th century buildings including a fortress, an old hospital transformed into a museum, and two churches: a baroque one where there is a sacred art museum, and Belém's cathedral.

All this area has been declared national patrimony by the National Historical Museum (Brazil). Around ten years ago, Ver-o-peso was bidding a place into UNESCO's list of world's human patrimonies, but it wasn't included and since then the City never tried again.

See: Wikipedia