Experience one of Brazil's most beautiful estates at the Casa do Pontal

The beautiful Casa do Pontal Museum absolutely must be on your list of places to visit if you’re planning on heading to the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro while you’re in Brazil. Located about an hour’s drive from downtown Rio de Janeiro, the Casa do Pontal Museum is the finest collection of folk art in all of Brazil.

Visitor’s will also be enthralled with the estate of Recreio do Bandeirantes which is home to the Casa do Pontal Museum. Situated between the Serra do Mar coastal range and the Prainha Beach, Casa do Pontal is worth the drive even before you set foot inside. Considered to be one of the most beautiful sites in Rio de Janeiro, the museum is housed in a beautiful two-story country home whose gardens showcasing many species of both tropical flora and fauna are also an attraction in and of themselves.

The Casa do Pontal Museum’s collection includes over 5,000 sculptures depicting an amazing overview of the culture and history of Brazil. Thousands of clay sculptures combined with woodcarvings and cloth and metal tableaus, collected by French expatriate, Jacques Van de Beuque charmingly portray life in traditional rural Brazil. Many depict farm and family life as well as Brazil’s famous religious and musical festivals.

The Casa do Pontal Museum has one room that is solely dedicated to an unbelievable metal diorama that portrays a Samba school marching in the carnival parade, complete with the audience cheering from the bleachers. This is one of the most popular and most well liked cultural displays in the museum. Another similar mechanical sculpture represents a circus. For adults only, the Casa do Pontal Museum also offers an x-rated collection of sculptures, showcasing Brazilians in many comprising sexual positions. The sculptures and other pieces showcased in the museum represent the work of over 200 of Brazil’s artisans and include pieces from almost every region of Brazil.

One of the most amazing facts regarding the collection is that it is a private collection amassed over the span of the last 50 years. The collector, Jacques van de Beuque arrived in Brazil from France in 1944 and never left. He was so taken with the history and culture of Brazilian life that he began traveling the country, collecting the small statues and other pieces of folk art that symbolized it and interviewing the artists. The pieces displayed in the Casa do Pontal Museum currently number approximately 8,000 and are constructed from a wide variety of materials including; wood, straw, wire, aluminum, clay, cloth, iron and even bread dough.

Most unique, the Casa do Portal Museum is the only museum in Brazil that offers such a complete overview of the culture, lifestyles and history of the people of Brazil. In fact, the collection is such an authentic portrayal of Brazilian life; the International Council of Museums considers it to be a true anthropological museum.

When planning your visit to the Casa do Portal Museum, you will also want to allow extra time to stop in and visit the Burle Marx Estate, just a short drive away. Roberto Burle Marx was an internationally known landscape architect in the 20th century. His home was built in 1949 and encompasses a 365,000 square mile banana plantation. During his lifetime, Marx collected plants from all over the world and his estate houses over 3,500 different species. Also on the estate is a chapel built in 1681 that Marx restored and a petrified log that is actually over 200 million years old. Several years before his death, Marx donated the estate to the Natural Institute for Cultural Heritage. It has been open to the public ever since. English speaking guides are available, however you do need to call ahead for reservations.