Centro Histórico do Recife, Colonial district in Recife, Brazil

Centro Histórico do Recife spreads across the old Recife island, where the settlement of Ribeira de Mar dos Arrecifes dos Navios began, and the adjacent neighbourhoods of Santo Antônio, Santo Amaro, São José and Boa Vista. The island is bounded by the Atlantic to the east and the mouths of the Beberibe and Capibaribe to the west, and linked to the rest of the city by four bridges: Limoeiro, Buarque de Macedo, Maurício de Nassau and 12 de Setembro, the former Ponte Giratória. Its Baroque churches, convents and neoclassical palaces, such as the Teatro de Santa Isabel and the Mercado de São José, stand in these quarters.

Recife arose in 1537 beside the largest sugar-exporting port of colonial Brazil, and only grew substantially after the Dutch invasion of 1630, when it became the seat of New Holland and overtook Olinda, which the Dutch destroyed. The Dutch period ended with their expulsion in 1654. Because Recife was never a Portuguese colonial capital, its Baroque churches were paid for by wealthy merchants and sugar-mill owners.

The historic center's Baroque churches were funded by wealthy merchants and sugar-mill owners, not by a colonial bishopric, since Recife was never a Portuguese colonial capital. The Matriz do Santíssimo Sacramento de Santo Antônio and the Concatedral de São Pedro dos Clérigos are among the temples listed by IPHAN. The Kahal Zur Israel synagogue, the first in the Americas, now houses a cultural space in the Recife Antigo neighborhood.

The historic center spans the Recife, Santo Antônio, São José and Boa Vista neighborhoods, and the old Recife island is linked to the mainland by four bridges: Limoeiro, Buarque de Macedo, Maurício de Nassau and 12 de Setembro. Walking between the churches, palaces and the Marco Zero takes time, so plan a route by neighborhood rather than crossing the Capibaribe repeatedly.

The Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue, on Rua do Bom Jesus in Recife Antigo, is described in the sources as the first synagogue in the Americas. The building now houses the Kahal Zur Israel Jewish Cultural Centre, where visitors can see the mikveh (ritual bath) found during restoration work.