Palaces, Mansions and Collectors: Rio’s House Museums

Some of Rio’s best afternoons are spent indoors, in houses: a palace that was once the seat of the presidency, collectors’ homes kept as they lived in them, and a mansion turned art school. Here is a day among them.

Rio is a city of beaches and mountains, but some of its best afternoons are spent indoors, in houses. A palace where presidents lived, collectors’ homes kept with their art, and a mansion turned art school: these are places to slow down, out of the heat.

Most of them open from Wednesday or Tuesday to Sunday, so plan a midweek or weekend day around them.

The palace on the Catete

Start at the Museu da República, in the Palácio do Catete on Rua do Catete, once the seat of Brazil’s presidents. The palace opens from Wednesday to Sunday, 11am to 5pm, and its garden, open every day, is a quiet green corner of the city.

A collector’s house by the Lagoa

On the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, the Casa Museu Eva Klabin keeps the house of the collector Eva Klabin, with exhibitions and a programme for artists and researchers. It opens in the afternoons, from 2pm to 6pm, Wednesday to Sunday.

Under the Corcovado

In Cosme Velho, on the same street as the station of the Trem do Corcovado, the Casa Roberto Marinho is a mansion built as a family home that would also host cultural life, and now shown as a museum of Brazilian art. It opens Tuesday to Sunday from noon; tickets are sold at the door, and a little insect repellent helps in the garden.

Rio keeps some of its best art in other people’s houses.

Santa Teresa and the Parque Lage

Up in Santa Teresa, the Museu da Chácara do Céu, one of the Museus Castro Maya, is a collector’s house shown with its art and its garden, high over the city.

And at the foot of the Corcovado, the Parque Lage is a mansion built around a courtyard pool, in a park of its own, and home to the Escola de Artes Visuais.

Did you know? The Museu da República also looks after the Palácio Rio Negro in Petrópolis, the old summer residence of Brazil’s presidents.

Our advice

Our advice: pair the Catete with a walk in the Parque do Flamengo, and the Casa Roberto Marinho with the train up the Corcovado. Check each house’s own site for the week’s hours and exhibitions before you set out.