Itaú Cultural, Cultural institute on Paulista Avenue, São Paulo, Brazil
Itaú Cultural occupies a building on Avenida Paulista redesigned in 2004 by architect Roberto Loeb, who added a metal canopy over the sidewalk entrance and a staircase crossing five floors. The institute holds the Brasiliana collection of paintings, drawings, engravings, maps and documents on Brazil, a wall of 300 engravings of Brazilian flora and fauna, and the Numismática museum of coins, medals and decorations.
The institution was established in 1987 as a computer science and culture center before being renamed in 1998 to focus entirely on cultural work. This shift allowed the space to develop into a dedicated venue for exhibitions and heritage documentation.
The name comes from Itaú Unibanco, the bank that created the institute. The Ocupação series devotes exhibitions to figures such as Mário de Andrade, Dona Ivone Lara and the Grupo Corpo dance company, while the Rumos programme has selected 1,130 artists, producers and researchers since 1997.
The venue sits on Avenida Paulista in a central location with free admission to exhibitions and cultural events. Visitors can also explore an extensive digital database to access artworks and cultural materials from their devices.
The digital collection here was among the first publicly accessible cultural archives of its kind in Latin America, launched in the late 1980s. This early innovation made Brazilian artworks and cultural materials available to the public online.
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