Downtown Rio, Porto Maravilha and MAR!

Downtown Rio is, during the week, maybe one of the busiest places on the planet, there are so many people, so much traffic, so much noise, that it is not really a place you go unless you have to. But the weekends are totally different, very few people live downtown, so it is extremely quiet, and it is possible to walk down the enormous avenues and narrow, old streets and actually pay attention to the buildings around you.
This morning I ventured downtown with the intention of visiting MAR - Museu de Arte do Rio - a new museum that opened up just this month. But on my way I just had to stop and take some pictures. Along Avenida Rio Branco I came upon theses doors:

Incredible, aren't they?
And further down I found these side streets:

Buildings of another time lost in the middle of the skyscrapers, a bit dodgy, but oh, so charming!
But I was on my way to MAR. As some of you might know, the harbour of Rio is going through a major refurbishing project, it will eventually become a very beautiful and fashionable area, as for now there are workers, trucks, equipment, noise...and the first project ready for the public is MAR:

It is an extraordinary project, joing two completely different buildings with a roof that resembles a wave. The modern building will be an art school, the old building will house the exhibitions. Because of the construction works going on in the area it is difficult to take pictures of the whole museum.

You enter the museum through the modern building and take the elevator to the top floor, where you will find an expectacular view.

There is also a model of the museum, in the future, hopefully, one will be able to see it like this:

The exhibition starts on the 5th floor, and you work your way down to the first! It starts with an exhibition of Rio de Janeiro, with wonderful pictures, films, postcarsd and posters of Rio de Janeiro.

It goes on to show two private collections, both of them beautiful, before it returns to Rio de Janeiro on the first floor. I was happy to see the museum bubbling with life, and on the first floor was the exhibit that everybody wanted to photograph:

Made by artists from a favela in Rio the colorful, charming model, full of details fascinated kids and grown-ups alike.

On my way out I couldn't help taking some more pictures, the museum is full of wonderful angles!

And then it was time to take the metro home. As I walked over to Presidente Vargas I came upon this church, for me: downtown Rio in a nutshell.