Museu do Imigrante

Hours Tues-Sun 10am-5pm

Address Rua Visconde de Parnaiba 1316

Location Bras

Transportation Metrô: Estação Bresser. Take the Av. Alcantara Machado exit down the ramp and take the street to the right along the metrô tracks (Rua Visconde de Parnaiba) for about 3 blocks

Phone 011/6693-0917

Web site www.memorialdoimigrante.sp.gov.br

Prices R$4 (US$1.30). Train and tram ride R$3.50 (US$1.15)

São Paulo's Ellis Island. Beginning in the 19th century, three million immigrants went through the gates of this building to start a new life in Brazil. The last group to get processed was in 1978. Today's visitors get an excellent idea of what it must have felt like to arrive here and get ready for a new life. The admission hall, office, hospital, and dormitories are shown in their original condition. The objects are on full display, not hidden in glass display cases. A second room shows how immigrants first eked out a living in their newly adopted country as masons, printers, farmers, and bakers. The upstairs has been converted into a diorama of a typical early-20th-century São Paulo street. On Sundays and holidays a historic train and tram take visitors on a short ride around the museum area. On other days you can still visit the carriages and the station area. Allow at least 2 hours.