![Pao-de-acucar-2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Pao-de-acucar-2.jpg)
Sugarloaf Mountain ( pt, Pão de Açúcar, ) is a peak situated in
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, at the mouth of
Guanabara Bay
Guanabara Bay ( pt, Baía de Guanabara, ) is an oceanic bay located in Southeast Brazil in the state of Rio de Janeiro. On its western shore lie the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Duque de Caxias, and on its eastern shore the cities of Niterói and ...
on a
peninsula
A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...
that juts out into the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
. Rising above the harbor, the peak is named for its resemblance to the traditional shape of concentrated refined
loaf sugar. It is known worldwide for its
cableway
Cable transport is a broad class of transport modes that have cables. They transport passengers and goods, often in vehicles called cable cars. The cable may be driven or passive, and items may be moved by pulling, sliding, sailing, or by driv ...
and panoramic views of the city and beyond.
The mountain is one of several
monolith
A monolith is a geological feature consisting of a single massive rock (geology), stone or rock, such as some mountains. For instance, Savandurga, Savandurga mountain is a monolith mountain in India. Erosion usually exposes the geological for ...
ic
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
and
quartz
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...
mountains that rise straight from the water's edge around
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
. Geologically, it is considered part of a family of steep-sided rock outcroppings known as non-
inselberg
An inselberg or monadnock () is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain.
In Southern Africa a similar formation of granite is known as a koppie, a ...
bornhardt
A bornhardt () is a dome-shaped, steep-sided, bald rock outcropping at least in height and several hundred metres in width. They are named after Wilhelm Bornhardt (1864–1946), a German geologist and explorer of German East Africa, who first ...
s.
The mountain is protected by the
Sugarloaf Mountain and Urca Hill Natural Monument, created in 2006.
This became part of a
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
declared by
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
in 2012.
Origins of the name
The name Sugarloaf was coined in the 16th century by the
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
during the heyday of
sugarcane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...
trade in Brazil. According to historian
Vieira Fazenda, blocks of sugar were placed in conical molds made of
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
to be transported on ships. The form of the peak reminded them of the well-known resulting "
sugarloaf
A sugarloaf was the usual form in which refined sugar was produced and sold until the late 19th century, when granulated and cube sugars were introduced. A tall cone with a rounded top was the end product of a process in which dark molasses, a ri ...
" shape, and the nickname has since been extended to be a general descriptor for formations of this kind.
Cable car
A glass-walled
cable car Cable car most commonly refers to the following cable transportation systems:
* Aerial lift, such as aerial tramways and gondola lifts, in which the vehicle is suspended in the air from a cable
** Aerial tramway
** Chairlift
** Gondola lift
*** Bi ...
(''bondinho'' or, more formally, ''teleférico''), capable of holding 65 people, runs along a route between the peaks of Sugarloaf and Morro da
Urca
Urca is a traditional and wealthy residential neighborhood with nearly 7,000 inhabitants (2000 census) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Although most of the neighborhood dates from the 1920s, parts of it are much older. What is now called the Forte Sã ...
every 20 minutes. The original cable car line was built in 1912 and rebuilt around 1972–73 and in 2008. The cable car goes from a ground station, at the base of
Morro da Babilônia
The Morro da Babilônia (, ''Babylon Hill'') is a hill in the Leme neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro, separating Copacabana beach from Botafogo. It is home to a ''favela'' known by the same name, as well as the favela Chapéu Mangueira. Morro da B ...
, to Morro da Urca and thence to Sugarloaf's summit.
Reaching the summit
To reach the summit, passengers take two cable cars. The first ascends to the shorter Morro da Urca, high. The second car ascends to Pão de Açúcar. The Swiss-made bubble-shaped cars offer passengers 360° views of the surrounding city. The ascent takes three minutes from start to finish.
Timeline
*1907 – Brazilian engineer
Augusto Ferreira Ramos
Augusto is an Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish given name or surname. Notable people with the name include:
* Augusto Aníbal
* Augusto dos Anjos
* Augusto Arbizo
*Augusto Barbera (born 1938), Italian law professor, politician and judge
*Augusto B ...
had the idea of linking the hills through a path in the air.
*1910 – The same engineer founded the Society of Sugar Loaf and the same year the works were started. The project was commissioned in Germany and built by Brazilian workers. All parts were taken by climbing mountains or lifted by steel cables.
*1912 – Opening of the cableway, the first in Brazil and the third of this kind worldwide; the first cable cars were made of coated wood and were used for 61 years.
*1973 – The current models of cars were put into operation. This increased the carrying capacity by almost ten times.
*2009 – Inauguration of the next generation of cable cars that had already been purchased and are on display at the base of Red beach
*2020 – Closed in March 2020 & partially reopened in August 2020.
Rock climbing
There are rock climbing routes on Sugarloaf that are mostly multipitch and are a mixture of sport and trad. There are also two other mountains in the area with technical rock climbing,
Morro da Babilônia
The Morro da Babilônia (, ''Babylon Hill'') is a hill in the Leme neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro, separating Copacabana beach from Botafogo. It is home to a ''favela'' known by the same name, as well as the favela Chapéu Mangueira. Morro da B ...
and Morro da Urca.
Together, they form one of the largest urban climbing areas in the world, with more than 270 routes, between 1 and 10
pitches long.
Appearances in media
*''
Flying Down to Rio
''Flying Down to Rio'' is a 1933 American pre-Code RKO musical film famous for being the first screen pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, although Dolores del Río and Gene Raymond received top billing and the leading roles. Among the fe ...
'' (1933) Starring
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz; May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, choreographer, actor, and singer. He is often called the greatest dancer in Hollywood film history.
Astaire's career in stage, film, and tele ...
and
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers (born Virginia Katherine McMath; July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an American actress, dancer and singer during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her starri ...
. The beachside Hotel Atlântico has views across the bay looking toward Sugarloaf Mountain.
*In the
1979
Events
January
* January 1
** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
film ''
Moonraker'', the villainous henchman
Jaws
Jaws or Jaw may refer to:
Anatomy
* Jaw, an opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth
** Mandible, the lower jaw
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Jaws (James Bond), a character in ''The Spy Who Loved Me'' and ''Moonraker''
* ...
(played by
Richard Kiel
Richard Dawson Kiel (September 13, 1939 – September 10, 2014) was an American actor. Standing tall, he was known for portraying Jaws in '' The Spy Who Loved Me'' (1977) and '' Moonraker'' (1979). Kiel's next-most-recognized role is the t ...
) attempts to kill 007 (
Roger Moore
Sir Roger George Moore (14 October 192723 May 2017) was an English actor. He was the third actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond in the Eon Productions film series, playing the character in seven feature films between 19 ...
) and the agent's ally,
Dr. Holly Goodhead (
Lois Chiles
Lois Cleveland Chiles (born April 15, 1947)[Profile]
entertainment.msn.com; accessed April 9, 2016. ...
), on a cable car. However, Bond and Goodhead escape and Jaws collides with the building at the bottom of the cable car route, demolishing the building, but escaping unscathed.
*
Herb Alpert
Herb Alpert (born March 31, 1935) is an American trumpeter who led the band Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass in the 1960s. During the same decade, he co-founded A&M Records with Jerry Moss. Alpert has recorded 28 albums that have landed on the ...
recorded a song titled "Sugarloaf" for his 1982 album ''
Fandango
Fandango is a lively partner dance originating from Portugal and Spain, usually in triple meter, traditionally accompanied by guitars, castanets, or hand-clapping. Fandango can both be sung and danced. Sung fandango is usually bipartite: it has ...
''.
*The mountain and cable car are featured in ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...
'' episode
"Blame it on Lisa", aired in 2002.
*''
Mechanic: Resurrection'' (2016), starring
Jason Statham
Jason Statham (; born 26 July 1967) is an English actor. He is known for portraying characters in various action-thriller films who are typically tough, hardboiled, gritty, or violent.
Statham began practising Chinese martial arts, kickboxing ...
. At the beginning of the film Arthur Bishop (Statham) is attacked at a restaurant on Morro da Urca and escapes on the roof of a cable car.
Gallery
File:Nicolas-Antoine Taunay.jpg, View of Sugarloaf from the terrace of the '' Convento de Santo Antônio'' (Convent of St. Anthony), c. 1816. Painting by Nicolas-Antoine Taunay
Nicolas-Antoine Taunay (10 February 1755 – 20 March 1830) was a French painter known best for his landscapes with scenes from ancient and modern history, mythology, and religion.
Early years
Nicolas Antoine Taunay was born in Paris, France, in ...
.
File:Charles_Landseer_-_View_of_Sugarloaf_Mountain_from_the_Silvestre_Road_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg, View of Sugarloaf from the Silvestre road, c. 1823. Painting by Charles Landseer
Charles Landseer (12 August 1799 – 22 July 1879) was an English painter, mostly of historical subjects.
Life
He was born in London on 12 August 1799, the second son of the engraver John Landseer, and the elder brother of the animal painter ...
.
File:A Glória, Rio de Janeiro by Eduard Hildebrandt.jpg, Sugarloaf as seen from Glória neighborhood, c. 1846. Painting by Eduard Hildebrandt
Eduard Hildebrandt (9 September 1818 in Danzig25 October 1868 in Berlin) was a German landscape painter.
Biography
He served as apprentice to his father, a house-painter at Danzig. He was not twenty when he moved to Berlin, where he was taken in ...
.
File:Forty years in Brazil (1914) (14775856642).jpg, Sugarloaf in 1914
File:Sugar Loaf Mtn Rio de Janeiro Brazil.JPG, Higher aerial view, 1967
File:Sugar loaf from Cristo Redentor 2010.JPG, View of the Sugarloaf from '' Christ the Redeemer'' on Corcovado
Corcovado (korcovádo) which means "hunchback" in Portuguese, is a mountain in central Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a 710-metre (2,329 ft) granite peak located in the Tijuca Forest, a national park.
Corcovado hill lies just west of the ci ...
.
File:Cable Cars from Sugarloaf Mountain-Pao de Acucar - Rio de Janeiro - Brazil.jpg, Cable cars from Sugarloaf Mountain.
File:Sugarloaf Mountain as seen from the up river, Christo Redentor seen in background.JPG, View of Sugarloaf Mountain from seaward side; Corcovado and ''Christ the Redeemer'' are seen in the background.
File:1 rio de janeiro panorama.jpg, View of Rio de Janeiro from the Sugarloaf.
File:Praia vermelha.jpg, Sugarloaf as seen from the Praia Vermelha (Red beach).
File:Pão de Açucar - Sugarloaf Mountain - Zuckerhut - Botafago.jpg, Botafogo Bay
Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood (''bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of M ...
and Sugarloaf
File:Pão de Açúcar - Rio de Janeiro, Brasil(2).jpg, Botafogo Bay and beach with Sugarloaf in the background
File:Do alto.jpg, Aerial view
File:Centro do Rio de Janeiro (3969222492).jpg, Sugarloaf with Downtown Rio in the foreground
File:Desvendando novos ângulos do Rio.jpg, View from the city of Niterói
Niterói (, ) is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality of the state of Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro in the Southeast Region, Brazil, southeast region of Brazil. It lies across Guanabara Bay facing the city of Rio de Janeiro and forms ...
References
External links
*
* —
{{Authority control
Mountains of Brazil
Bornhardts
Guanabara Bay
Geography of Rio de Janeiro (city)
Landforms of Rio de Janeiro (state)
Rock formations of Brazil
Tourist attractions in Rio de Janeiro (city)
Articles containing video clips
First 100 IUGS Geological Heritage Sites