On Sunday I’m going to Maracanã/ Gonna cheer for the team that I love/Gonna take fire rockets and a flag/ ‘Cause it won’t be no joke/We’ll be champions/I won’t get a numbered chair/I’ll be in the bleachers/To feel the excitement/Because my team do it for real/And it’s name is you who’s going to say!!!
It is at the mythical Maracanã that the first edition of the Rolé Visita takes place. For many people “the carioca temple of football”, it remains as the biggest, even though it has lost this post. The construction were designed during the New State, intending to show both Brazil and it’s “better football on the planet” greatness. A true colossus admitting 200 thousand spectators, the stadium would occupy circa of the old Derby Club landsite.
The stadium was inaugurated in 1949, unfinished, to receive the 1950 Football World Cup, the occasion where Brazil were defeated by the Uruguayans Ghiggia, Schiaffino and more, marking a dramatic 2 x 1. However, the commotion became a characteristic element of the “Maraca” final games. This field were crossed by the greatest players of it’s time: Pelé, Zico, Garrincha, Rivelino, Roberto Dinamite, Romário, Ronaldo e Neymar. Beyond the sportive vocation, this place had received many music shows and even the Pope masses.
Maracanã is originally named after Jornal dos Sports founder and Nelson Rodrigues brother, Mário Filho. Although, it never stopped being called Maracanã as the river that flows from the mountains in Tijuca and runs close to the stadium. This name also ended up baptizing the neighborhood around – an university and bohemian characteristic area - despite it’s non official existence.
The remodeling to the 2014 World Cup tried to turn it into a new space of leisure, a culture center and entertainment. With new modifications the capacity was reduced to 78.000 people comfortably seated. The concrete cover was changed to a new glass fiber membrane with Teflon covering 95% of the seats. Besides, the grey tone returned as it’s major external color as in the inauguration.
Closed since 2013, the athletics arena was very close to be demolished during the recent reformation of Maracanã. Along with the Julio Delamare, Maracanã, and Maracanazinho it composed the Maracanã Sports Complex, of which the Municipal Friedenreich School made part. It began as a dirt lane but then it received some changes along the installation of the bleachers and race pits modernizations in 1974. This arena had already being the spot for national competitions as the Adhemar Ferreira da Silva Trophy and Brazilia Athletics Trophy, as well as some students tournaments.
This old train station used to serve the hippodrome when there was the Derby Club until 1926. The name was changed after the stadium construction. It makes the connections with Line 2 of Rio de Janeiro’s subway between Triagem and São Cristóvão stations. However, the station had it’s opening in 1981 and gives access to gates A, B and C of Maracanã (entrances by Professor Manuel de Abreu Avenue and Professor Eurico Rabelo street). To access the gates D, E and F, by Maracanã Avenue and Mata Machado street, the nearest station is São Cristóvão
The history of Rio de Janeiro State University begins in 1950 with Federal District University (UDF) foundation, spreading itself through a complex of buildings around the city until they were reunited into the form of the big reinforced concrete blocs nearby the Maracanã. The campus was built over an unfinished old hospital that used to be occupied by a community known as the Favela do Esqueleto (Skeleton Slum), all of them moved to Vila Kennedy in the 60’s.
Inaugurated in 1954 this gymnasium has a multisport ground that fits volleyball, basketball, handball, futsal and has the capacity for 11.000 viewers. The original name comes from Flamengo’s ex-president, Gilberto Cardoso, who died after watching a final where his team won the basketball championship at the gym. Maracanazinho has sheltered music concerts, remarkably the International Song Festival from 1966 to 1972. It hosted international tournaments as the Male Basketball competition in 1963, when the Brazilian team won from Yugoslavia by 90 x 71, and the volleyball tournaments. The arena was reformed to receive the Pan Games in 2007 but hasn’t had any events since 2016.
Projected by the architects Rubens Cozzo, Ricardo Labre and Cândido Lemos, the pool conjunct had it’s opening in 1978 as a part of the Maracanã Sports Complex. It’s name pays honors to the sports journalist Julio Delamare, a big enthusiast of the park construction, who died in 1973 because of an airplane accident in Paris. It fits 5.000 seats and had been modified to the Pan American Games in 2007, being the place of swimming, water polo, synchronized swimming and fancy diving. Fernando Scherer, a.k.a “Xuxa”, and Gustavo Borges began their careers at the park. In 2018 the swimming school aim to bring back their activities.
This edifice sheltered the old Indian Museum between 1953 and 1978 being, since then, abandoned. In 2006, a migration of groups originally from Maranhão and São Paulo began to occupy the location, even though it had no structure or support. During the 2014 World Cup this space lived a strong battle about the removal of the occupying population, resulting in the changes of the constructions around Maracanã leaving an unfinished aspect to it since the surroundings of the village were put under government trust. There’s a continuous attempt to formalize an accord between Darcy Ribeiro Foundation and the Native Association that would make resources acquisition easier to help to restore the building.
“Maracanã” is a popular designation to birds from the Psittacidae family of which parrots, macaws and parakeets belong. This species, smaller than parrot but bigger than a parakeet, used to be very common around the Maracanã riverhead, nearby the Borel hill. The name has aborigine origins and can also be understood as “maracá-nã” as well as the one that imitates maracá, a rattle used by the natives with a similar sound of these birds.
The area occupied by the Maracanã Stadium once was the Derby Club, founded in the middle of the 19th century. Well before the football, horse races and turf were the favorite sports bets until it started to get considered old-fashioned around 1930. The large space that used to receive the races, polo matches, equitation and leap competitions became obsolete and forgotten to the point where an old unfinished building, also in Derby’s surroundings, was occupied and gave roots to the Favela do Esqueleto (Skeleton Slum).
“I’ve been to the stadium that carries yours valued name, estimated sports journalist, and being honest: I did not recognized you in those blue, white and yellow chairs (…). That being said, knowing that one more page of our history is gone and that it always comes with pain, I wish to add that the new stadium is remarkable. Beautiful and functional. Just a little bit extravagant, and for those who are used to live in one of the dirtiest cities in the world that’s always intimidating. People complain that it doesn’t seem to have a soul. That rascal spectacle of the rooters may have to change the folklore style but they’ll find a new way of have fun since they do not explode mortars close to the eardrums or break the chairs where a shall sit tomorrow. Enough of this dull trickery. (...) For many years we’ll still remember the great stories of the old scenery. Those of us more attached to nostalgia will find everything kind of fake, looking like an indifferent international arena. We shall pass through the blablabla. Maracanã is gone, rest in peace, but it was time. The audience now, dear Mário Filho, is for those new players, now having a great field, play as well as their predecessors”.
- Joaquim Ferreira dos Santos (2013)
The 40min duration tour makes many rooters dreams come true: to know the Maracanã backstage and get close to the field that received two World Cup finals and one Olympic Game in the bargain. The highlight being the arena entrance through where many football stars had passed and try the substitute players bench. Besides the field, visitors can also know the dressing-rooms and both warming and press conference rooms, along items related to players that left a mark on the stadium history as Pelé, Garrincha and Zico.
Guided tour: R$ 60
Non-Guided Tour: R$ 50
Website: https://www.tourmaracana.com.br/
It was by the Bandeira Square that the famous feijoada dough became an icon of the carioca gastronomy, taking form in a light mass delight, filled with fried bacon and kale. This is the major dish done in the kitchen lead by Katia Barbosa with the partner Rosa Ledo, with the options to eat it at the restaurant or taken frozen, to fry at home. The bar even offers a bear charter with over 100 labels and other kind of Brazilian dishes.
Rua Barão de Iguatemi, 245
(21) 2273 1035
https://www.facebook.com/aconchego.carioca
A pioneer around the gastronomic center in Tijuca, it remains installed on the same spot for over 80 years. The house’s secret is to serve large amounts of seafood that satisfies even 8 people, as risotto, fish and moquecas. Try the shrimp or crab pastry, fresh, crispy and, to drink, a cold bear.
Rua dos Artistas, 2
(21) 2208 6165
https://www.facebook.com/siritijuca/