The Memória do Bixiga Museum is located in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

, Brazil, and tells the story of the region's

Italian immigrants The Italian diaspora is the large-scale emigration of Italians from Italy. There were two major Italian diasporas in Italian history. The first diaspora began around 1880, two decades after the Risorgimento, Unification of Italy, and ended in the ...

. Founded in 1981 it is one of the city's oldest museums and is located in a typical 20th-century building at 118 Rua dos Ingleses. It was closed from 2005 to 2010, but later reopened to the public.

History

Opened in 1981 the Memória do Bixiga Museum was designed by the neighborhood's cultural agitator, Armando Puglisi, commonly known as Armandinho do Bixiga, and features objects related to Italian immigrants in the region. Most of the items on display were donated by Puglisi or by residents of the neighborhood.

Collection

The museum's collection includes 1,500 different items, as well as 8,000 photographs including objects by Adoniran Barbosa. Among the items on display, many of them donated by the creator of the place himself, there are pasta machines and bottles in which milk was delivered door-to-door at the time. The collection also includes classic uniforms from the

Vai-Vai Grêmio Recreativo Cultural Social Escola de Samba Vai-Vai , popularly known simply as Vai-Vai is a samba school from São Paulo, Brazil. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were in the neighborhood Bixiga, at Rua Marques Lion, a footba ...

samba school, Carmen Miranda's shoes, weapons from the 1932 Revolution, a dentist's chair from the 1920s and photos of

Bixiga Bixiga is a neighbourhood in the center of the city of São Paulo, Brazil. It is located within the district of Bela Vista. Bixiga is known for having been a hub for Italian immigrants.

. The building is larger than its first location. On the first floor, visitors can see a refrigerator that is over 100 years old, a pair of gloves belonging to "Piranha" ( Pedro Galasso), a veteran

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

who also lived in the neighborhood, and letters from the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Although little is known about the building that houses the Memória do Bixiga Museum, it was built at the beginning of the 20th century and is listed by Conpresp. Due to administrative problems, it was closed from 2005 to 2010, but reopened on 18 March 2010.

References

{{Visitor attractions in São Paulo Museums in Brazil Museums in São Paulo Museums established in 1981 History museums in Brazil Italian diaspora in Brazil