RIO DE JANEIRO Because the whole world will be there in 2014
Fifty-three years after Brazil’s federal government decamped to
Brasília, and decades after São Paulo took over as the country’s
business capital, Rio is staging a comeback. With the 2014 World Cup and
2016 Summer Olympics (plus an oil boom) providing the impetus, the
tropical city perhaps most famous for its Carnival hedonism is on its
way to becoming a more sophisticated cultural hub. In January, the
Cidade das Artes, or City of the Arts, was inaugurated as the new home
of the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra. On March 23, Casa Daros — an
outpost of the Zurich-based Daros Latinamerica Collection
— will open in a renovated 19th-century building with an exhibition of
Colombian artists. March will also mark the opening of the Rio Museum of
Art in Praça Mauá, a once decrepit port area now being revived. (The Santiago Calatrava-designed Museum of Tomorrow, also in the port area, is scheduled to follow in 2014.) Shopping, a Rio obsession, got a boost in December when the luxe VillageMall opened; it will soon house the city’s first Gucci outlet and South America’s first
Apple Store. Special
events also dot the coming year’s calendar, including the Catholic
Church’s World Youth Day in July, the biennial Rio Book Fair starting in
late August, and September’s Rock in Rio. And, of course, there’s
soccer: the finals of the Confederations Cup, considered a dress
rehearsal for the World Cup, will be held in a completely overhauled
Maracanã Stadium on June 30.
www.visitbrazil.com