Francisco Brenand Sculpture Park, Open-air museum in Marco Zero district, Recife, Brazil.
The Parque das Esculturas Francisco Brennand is an open-air museum on a low wall at the edge of dark water in Recife's port estuary. Its centrepiece, the Torre de Cristal, is a 32-metre column of clay and bronze: a slender shaft wrapped in a spiralling pale grey-green form, crowned by an elongated textured finial, with two pairs of small wing-like projections near the top and the base. The site holds 90 sculptures by Francisco Brennand.
The park was conceived in the 1990s as part of Francisco Brennand's project "Eu vi o mundo… Ele Começava no Recife", marking the 500th anniversary of Brazil's discovery, and was inaugurated on 29 December 2000. In 2014 all 90 works and the park itself were restored, and security at the complex was reinforced.
The park grew out of Francisco Brennand's project "Eu vi o mundo… Ele Começava no Recife", conceived in the 1990s for the 500th anniversary of Brazil's discovery and inaugurated on 29 December 2000. Its 90 sculptures, led by the 32-metre Torre de Cristal in clay and bronze, carry Brennand's reading of Pernambuco myths and folklore. A 2018 Jornal do Comércio survey found more than half of Recife's residents had never visited the park.
The park lies across the Estuary of the Port of Recife; the usual approach is a boat from a small pier at Marco Zero, which lands at the park entrance. By road, drive via Avenida Brasília Formosa. The site was restored in 2014, when security at the complex was also reinforced.
The park holds 90 sculptures by Francisco Brennand, yet a 2018 Jornal do Comércio survey found that more than half of Recife's residents had never visited it. The main work, the Torre de Cristal, rises 32 metres and is made of clay and bronze. The complex was fully restored in 2014, when security was also reinforced.
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