Pau Amarelo Fort, Military fortress in Paulista, Brazil.

Pau Amarelo Fort stands on Pau Amarelo beach in Paulista, about 16 km north of Olinda. Its 1866 layout comprised a sea-facing wall with two watchtowers, a stone-paved terrace with nine embrasures and six gun ports, plus barracks, a vaulted powder magazine, a prison and a chapel.

A royal charter of 15 September 1703 ordered a fort at Pau Amarelo inlet, with a design by engineer Luiz Francisco Pimentel, who drowned in the Rio Doce in 1707. Work began in 1729 under Governor Duarte Sodré; by 1745 only a battery, two half-bastions and a supporting wall stood. Governor Luís Diogo Lobo da Silva later added a moat and ravelin, recorded in 1762.

The fort's name honours Nossa Senhora dos Prazeres, Our Lady of Pleasures, and a chapel dedicated to her stood inside; an 1866 report by Major Salvador Coelho de Drumond e Albuquerque found it in good condition alongside the barracks and vaulted powder magazine. The 2001 restoration plan foresaw craft shops, a tourist information centre and a city history museum in the ground-floor rooms.

The fortress sits right at the water's edge and is accessible from nearby beaches or local streets. Visitors should expect uneven surfaces and stone stairs as they move between the different levels inside.

In 1817 the fort was armed with three bronze and twenty-four iron guns of different calibres; by 1866 eight pieces remained, almost all dismounted, and in 1885 only eight guns of 24 to 9 pounds lay buried in the sand. The 1866 report by Major Salvador Coelho de Drumond e Albuquerque also noted a paved terreplein with nine embrasures and six gun ports.