Monument Abertura dos Portos, Neoclassical monument at Largo de São Sebastião, Manaus, Brazil
The Monument Abertura dos Portos is a Neoclassical statue at Largo de São Sebastião in Manaus. It features a central female figure representing the Amazon region alongside Mercury, the god of commerce, and four ships with child figures symbolizing different continents.
The monument was built in 1900 to replace an original obelisk from 1867. It commemorates the opening of Amazon ports to international maritime trade in 1866.
Each ship prow carries a seated boy with attributes: on the Africa boat he sits on a head symbolising Egypt and holds two elephant tusks, the Europe boat shows an eagle and a boy with a globe, the Asia boat bears a crescent and a boy on a lion's back, and the America boat has a boy at the prow and a snake coiled around the keel.
The statue stands directly in front of the Teatro Amazonas and is easy to reach while exploring Manaus's historical center. The plaza is walkable from downtown and sits at a central location near other notable sites.
The decorative floor patterns surrounding the monument later inspired the design of the famous Copacabana sidewalks in Rio de Janeiro. This connection between Manaus and Rio shows how the aesthetics of this Amazon trade monument influenced urban designs across Brazil.
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