Palacete do Comendador Bernardo Martins Catharino, Manor house in Graça district, Salvador, Brazil

The Palacete do Comendador Bernardo Martins Catharino is a 1912 mansion on Rua da Graça, designed by Rossi Baptista with eclectic architecture and French traits, decorated by Oreste Sercelli. Its design resembles the Hotel Biron in Paris. A modern annex, the Sala Contemporânea by Marcelo Ferraz and Francisco Fanucci, hosts temporary exhibitions, and four Rodin statues stand in the gardens.

The manor was built in 1912 by architect Rossi Baptista during a period when wealthy families relocated from central Salvador to outlying neighborhoods. This shift toward the Graça area represented a broader movement that reshaped the social and spatial structure of the growing city.

Since 29 September 2023 the manor has housed the Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Bahia. Before that, from 2003, it was the Museu Rodin Bahia, which restored the house and installed four Rodin statues in the gardens. The change of use from a Rodin collection to contemporary art shows how the building has been reused for different museum projects.

The manor sits on Rua da Graça in the Graça neighborhood, uphill from Salvador's lower city. The Rodin statues stand in the gardens, while the Sala Contemporânea annex, designed by Marcelo Ferraz and Francisco Fanucci, holds temporary exhibitions. The house has been adapted as the Museum of Contemporary Art of Bahia since 2023, so check which spaces are open before climbing the hill.

The architectural design shares similarities with the Hotel Biron in Paris, now known as the Rodin Museum in France. This connection shows how European artistic ideas shaped elite residences built in Brazil during the early 1900s.