The Garden of Hospital São João de Deus () is an abandoned garden in

Cachoeira Cachoeira ( Portuguese, meaning waterfall) is an inland municipality of Bahia, Brazil, on the Paraguaçu River. The town exports sugar, cotton, and tobacco and is a thriving commercial and industrial centre. The municipality contains 56% of the ...

Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. It is part of the São João de Deus Hospital architectural ensemble that includes a hospital building, a large Baroque-style church of the early 18th century that faces Praça Dr. Aristides Milton, and a set of houses built by the

Santa Casa da Misericórdia Santa Casa da Misericórdia is a charitable institution whose mission is to treat and support the sick, the disabled, and orphans. Founded in Lisbon in 1498 by Queen Leonor of Portugal, the institution grew into a network of charitable organizat ...

along Rua Durval Chagas. The garden is located to the rear of the chapel. The garden was listed as a historic structure by

National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage The National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute (, IPHAN) is a heritage register of the federal government of Brazil. It is responsible for the preservation of buildings, monuments, structures, objects and sites, as well as the register an ...

(IPHAN) in 1938; five of the ceramic objects that crown the columns of the garden were listed separately the same year.

History

Frei Antônio Machado of the Church of Belém da Cachoeira founded the Hospital de Caridade de Cachoeira (''Cachoeira Charity Hospital'') in 1729 near the city center. It was donated to the Order of Saint John of God of Lisbon in 1754, and passed to the

in 1826. The church of the hospital and Chapel of Hospital São João de Deus (''Capela do Hospital São João de Deus''), a large-scale

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

structure of the early 18th century, had a

churchyard In Christian countries, a churchyard is a patch of land adjoining or surrounding a church (building), church, which is usually owned by the relevant church or local parish itself. In the Scots language and in both Scottish English and Ulster S ...

to the rear. It was converted into a French-style garden in 1912.

Description

The Garden of Hospital São João de Deus was designed in the French style of the early 20th century. It has beds of geometric design with a marble fountain at center; it features three interlaced dolphins at its center. The garden is surrounded by large columns crowned by ceramic objects in the shape of vases, dogs, and pine cones. Five of the ceramic objects were imported from the Santo António do Vale da Piedade factory in

Vila Nova de Gaia Vila Nova de Gaia (; ), or simply Gaia, is a city and a municipality in Porto District in Norte Region, Portugal, Norte Region, Portugal. It is located south of the city of Porto on the other side of the Douro River. The city proper had a populati ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. The marble carvings of the fountain are likely from Lisbon, but no documentation attests to their origin. The garden was abandoned in the 20th century and is in an advanced state of decay. Its furniture was robbed or lost. Traces of the garden beds, the fountain, and columns remain. The ceramic decorative elements remain, but are in poor condition.

Protected status

The Garden of Hospital São João de Deus was listed as a protected historic site by the

in 1939 under inscription number 202.

Access

The garden is not open to the public and may not be visited; the distinctive ceramic crowns of the columns remain visible along Rua Durval Chagas.

References

{{reflist, 2, refs= {{cite web , url=http://portal.iphan.gov.br/uploads/ckfinder/arquivos/Lista%20de%20Processos%20de%20Tombamento.pdf , title=Lista de Processos de Tombamento , language=pt , publisher=IPHAN , date=2017 , accessdate=2019-10-22 {{cite book , last=Secretaria da Indústria, Comércio e Turismo (Bahia, Brazil) , title=IPAC-BA: inventário de proteção do acervo cultural , edition=3 , volume = 1 , location=Salvador, Brazil , publisher=Secretaria da Indústria e Comércio , year=1982 , pages=69–70 {{cite conference , last=Magalhães , first=Cristiane Maria , title=Jardins históricos brasileiros: arte, história e patrimônio , language=pt , url=https://upcommons.upc.edu/bitstream/handle/2099/14860/116_Cristiane_Magalhaes.pdf?sequence=1 , conference=V Seminario Internacional de Investigación en Urbanismo, Barcelona-Buenos Aires, junio 2013 , publisher=DUOT , place=Barcelona , year=2013 , pages=1630–1639 {{cite web , url=http://patrimonio.ipac.ba.gov.br/bem/jardim-do-hospital-sao-joao-de-deus/ , title=Jardim do Hospital São João de Deus , language=pt , publisher=Sistema de Informações do Patrimônio Cultural da Bahia (SIPAC) , date=2019 , accessdate=2019-10-22 {{Dead link, date=May 2024 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes Gardens in Brazil National heritage sites of Bahia 1912 establishments