Ibirapuera Park Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Ibirapuera Park
The Ibirapuera Park

Type	Urban park
Location	São Paulo Brazil
Area	1,584,000 square metres (0.612 sq mi)
Created	1954
Status	Open all year

Ibirapuera Park (Portuguese: Parque Ibirapuera) is a major urban park in São Paulo, Brazil. It has a large area for leisure, jogging and walking, as well a vivid cultural scene with museums and a music hall. Its importance to São Paulo is often comparable to that of Central Park to New York City, Golden Gate Park to San Francisco, or Ueno Park to Tokyo. Ibirapuera is one of Latin America's largest city parks, together with Chapultepec Park in Mexico City and Simón Bolívar Park in Bogota.

Location
History
Features
Images for kids
See also

Location

The park is located in the subprefecture of Vila Mariana, São Paulo. The area was a floodplain.

History

The name of the park means "rotted tree" in Tupi-Guarani, and it is named after an indigenous village that was in the area. In 1906 control of the area was transferred to the municipality. At the time the area was very swampy, and trees were planted in the area in the 1920s to counteract this.

Ibirapuera was the first metropolitan park in São Paulo, and was designed along the lines of other great parks in large cities, such as Central Park.

Ibirapuera Park

Inaugurated on 21 August 1954 for the 400th anniversary of the city, with buildings designed by famous architect Oscar Niemeyer and landscape by agronomist Otávio Agusto de Teixeira Mendes, Ibirapuera Park covers an area of 158 hectares (1.58 km²) Admission has been free since 1954, and it is open 5am until midnight.

Today, Ibirapuera Park was voted one of the top ten urban parks in the world by the Guardian. Ibirapuera Park is the most visited park in São Paulo, attracting more than 130,000 visitors during high season, and hosting popular events such as São Paulo Fashion Week, and several congresses and trade shows.

Features

Ibirapuera Park in São Paulo

Ibirapuera Park statue

Ibirapuera Park

The park complex contains several buildings, most of them designed by Oscar Niemeyer. They include:

The Grande Marquise ("The great marquee"), where the MAM - Museu de Arte Moderna ("Modern Art Museum") is located;
The Cicillo Matarazzo Pavilion, home for the Museum of Contemporary Art, University of São Paulo, and a space for events and expos, including the São Paulo Art Biennial and the São Paulo Fashion Week;
The Manoel da Nóbrega Pavilion, which until 1992 was the city hall;
The Lucas Nogueira Garcez Pavilion, formerly known as "Palácio das Exposições"("Expositions Palace") and now known as the Oca ("hut", given its round shape), which harbors both the Museu da Aeronáutica ("Air Force Museum") and the Museu do Folclore ("Folklore Museum");
The Armando de Arruda Pereira Pavilion, home for the Prodam - Companhia de Processamento de Dados do Município ("Municipal Data Processing Company");
The Palácio da Agricultura ("Agriculture Palace"), home of Detran, municipal transit department. The building was originally intended to harbor the municipal agriculture department;
The Planetarium and Municipal Astrophysics School. The Planetarium building which is shaped like a flying saucer. It was the first Planetarium in the Southern Hemisphere and has a dome which is 20 meters in diameter. The German projection machine shows the sky above São Paulo from dusk to dawn. During the projection a professional astronomer explains the most famous stars and constellations as well as the movements of the Earth and other planets;
The Gymnasium;
The Japanese Pavilion
The Monumento às Bandeiras
The Ibirapuera Auditorium, controversial building that was on the original Niemeyer plan, but was only built recently.
The Obelisk of São Paulo, symbol of the Constitutionalist Revolution of 1932
A statue of Pedro Alvares Cabral that alleges "Brazilians owe everything to Portugal."