Best Western Manibu Recife Hotel

The circuit of the poetry is a homage to the illustrious personalities of Recife.

These are statues sculptured by the plastic artist Demétrio Albuquerque, and are sited in some of the historical streets of the city.

Mauro Mota - Praça do Sebo (Square of the Tallow)

Mauro Ramos de Mota e Albuquerque graduated in law, but dedicated his life to journalism and teaching. Elected in 1970 to the Brazilian Academy of Arts, he was also a member of the Pernambucan Academy of Arts. The sculpture, in natural concrete, representing Mauro Mota seated on a bench reading a large open book, can be shared by anyone who sits at the side thus interacting with the poet. Sited in the Patio of the Sebo, in the centre of Recife, it induces the visitor to enjoy the square and its trees with benches for reading.

Antônio Maria - Rua do Bom Jesus (Street of Jesus the Good)

Antonio Maria Araújo de Morais was born in Recife and initiated his artistic life at 17 in the Radio Club of Pernambuco as a presenter of musical programmes. He composed in 1951, the Frevo nº 1 of Recife, the first one of a series of five. His sculpture is of polishing reinforced concrete and is in the Rua do Bom Jesus, in Old Recife. Antonio Maria is seated on a bench of concrete, sited in front of another empty bench, inviting the visitor to talk with the poet and to remember his legacy of beautiful compositions of Brazilian music.

Luiz Gonzaga - Casa da Cultura (House of Culture)

Luiz Gonzaga was born in the city of Exu, in the Pernambucan hinterland and died in Recife. He was the greatest influence in the spreading north-eastern music throughout Brazil. Located in front of the House of Culture, the sculpture, of natural size, is in colourful polished concrete, shows Luiz Gonzaga playing the concertina. The triangle and zabumba (a Brazilian drum) that are included in the work suggest a trick to the public to complete the personages of the Forró Trio.

Ascenso Ferreira - Cais da Alfândega (The Customs Wharf)

Ascenso Ferreira was born in the city of Palmares and died in Recife in 1965. He always used a straw hat, which soon became his trademark. The poetry of Ascenso belongs to the first generation of the Modernist Movement in Pernambuco, having been first published in 1927 in “Catimbó”. The sculpture of the poet Ascenso Ferreira is seated on a stack of newspapers, at the side of stacks of books that serve as a bench and backrest. The stacks to the side suggest a place to stop and sit next to the poet to contemplate the River Beberibe and the Customs Wharf.

Joaquim Cardozo - Ponte Maurício Nassau (Maurício Nassau Bridge)

Joaquin Cardozo published his first book at 50 years of age and died without receiving recognition from the general public. But the critics had always classified him as one of the greatest XX-century Portuguese-language poets. The poetical workmanship of Joaquin Cardozo has Recife and the Northeast as constant subjects. The sculpture, in polished reinforced concrete, represents the poet Joaquin Cardozo reclined on the balustrade over the arches that top the Maurício de Nassau bridge.

Chico Science - Rua da Moeda (Street of the Currency)

Francisco de Assis França, was born 13 March 1966, in the interior of Pernambuco. In the decade of the 90s, he joined groups playing maracatu and hip hop and created a music that resulted in a mixture of rhythms with the drums, guitars, frevo, “embolada”, “xaxado”, rap and rock. Together with Nação Zumbi, Chico Science was responsible for the creation of the “Manguebeat” movement. The sculpture in resin and fibre glass finished in fabric and straw, represents the figure of “mangueboy” Chico Science. Sat on a alfaia (The large bass drum used in Maracatu), the sculpture can be found in the Rua da Moeda, placed on the top of a concrete pole.

Clarisse Lispector - Praça Maciel Pinheiro (Maciel Pinheiro Square)

Clarice Lispector was born in Tchetchelnik, in the Ukraine, but passed his infancy with his family in Recife, in 1925, where he studied at the Pernambucano Gymnasio. The sculpture presents Clarice seated in the Praça Maciel Pinheiro in a chair with a back illuminated by a high shaded lamp, with a typewriter on his knees. The sculpture portrays the intimacy of writing and evokes the inspiration that Clarice Lispector went to search for in that square, the place of his infancy.

Capiba - Rua do Sol (Street of the Sun)

The best known composer of frevo in Brazil, Lourenço of the Fonseca Barbosa - Capiba, was born in Surubim in the interior of the state, but adopted Recife as his city, where he remained until the end of the life. Represented in the Rua do Sol, on foot on an old balcony, the statue of Capiba evokes the old carnivals and greets the parade of the Galo da Madrugada Carnival (Dawn Rooster) and authentic Pernambucan frevo. The workmanship invites the revellers, at the side of Capiba, to join in the Recife carnival and to sing Madeira que cupim não rói (Wood that lice do not gnaw).

Carlos Pena Filho - Praça da Independência (Independence Square)

Carlos Pena Filho published, in 1952, Tempo da Busca (Time of the Search), his first book of poetries. The sculpture, in Praça da Independencia, is a group consisting of the figure, table and benches. All made in concrete, connected with white lead between themselves and to the floor, in a composition representing the moment of the poet. Based on his most famous poem “the Chope”, where he invites us to a drink of reflections and distress; the life in the centre of the city, while, in a gesture, almost private, writes his most famous poem.

Solano Trindade - Pátio de São Pedro (St. Peter's Patio)

Francisco Solano Trindade was poet, cinematographer, painter and thespian, founding the Centre for Afro-American Culture and Traditions in 1954. The sculpture in polished reinforced concrete, in the Patio de Sao Pedro, represents the poet Solano Trindade, standing on of a Maracatu drum, holding a bronze bell. The drum serves as abase for the sculpture and a small podium for recitals, speeches, discourses, and any interactivity of positions, words and theatre, as a tribune for auto-expression.

Manuel Bandeira - Rua da Aurora (Street of the Dawn)

Manuel Carneiro de Souza Bandeira Filho was born in Recife and debuted in literature in 1917 with the publication of the book the A Cinza das Horas (Ash of the Hours). The sculpture presents a seated Manuel Bandeira, at the side of a colonial style window, from which he contemplates the landscape of the Capibaribe River contemplates. Reading a passage of his poem Evocação (Mandate), the poet invites the visitor to do the same. The window symbolizes the ticket that the poetry of Bandeira represents for Brazilian literature.

João Cabral de Melo Neto - Rua da Aurora (Street of the Dawn)

João Cabral de Melo Neto was born in Recife and died in Rio De Janeiro. A Member of the Brazilian Academy of Arts, the poet received the prize “Luiz de Camões”, the most important granted to writers in the Portuguese Language. The sculpture presents João Cabral, in the Rua da Aurora, seated on a bench of the square in contemplative position. On his leg he holds a book opened to his poem which speaks of the river Capibaribe: “O Cão sem Plumas” (the Dog without Pens).

• Home
• Rooms
• Structure
• Virtual Tour
• Events
• Photograph Gallery
• Tourist information
• Know Recife
• How to reach us
• FAQ
• Contacts
• Trip Advisor »