Bahia' tourists and locals now can visit the famous adress where the writter lived.
After 11 years closed, the house located at Rua Alagoinhas 33, in the District of Rio Vermelho, and where the couple of writers Jorge Amado and Zelia Gattai lived, will be opened. The property has been totally recovered by the Municipality of Salvador in an intervention that included the participation of Fundação Casa de Jorge Amado (the House Foundation) and the relatives of the couple that represents and symbolizes Bahia's culture and the libertarian spirit of the people of this amazing region. For the first time, the House will be opened for the public.
The opening ceremony of the “Casa do Rio Vermelho – Jorge Amado e Zélia Gattai” will be held on November 7 (Friday), 3:00 pm, and will count with the special presence of actresses who played the female roles created by Jorge Amado on TV and movies, including Sonia Braga, who played in a feature film the role of the unforgettable Gabriela, a vibrant character that still lives on men's fantasies.
"It is incredibly exciting and captivating being able to show to Bahia's people, Brazilians and tourists a vestige of the intimacy of Jorge and Zélia, and has a priceless cultural value. We are protecting the memory of two writers who represent the essence of this land and who continue extremely contemporary. We expect that, besides rescuing a small part of the history of Salvador and Bahia through characters, texts and friendships or acquaintanceships, the Casa do Rio Vermelho may also increasingly inspire the emergence of new and combative talents in literature and arts in general," stated the Mayor ACM Neto.
The Mayor will lead the opening ceremony next to authorities such as the City Secretary of Development, Tourism and Culture, Guilherme Bellintani, and the President of the Gregório de Mattos Foundation, Fernando Guerreiro. The event will also be attended by people who contributed decisively for the opening of the property where some of the world's most widely read novels have been written: the Chairman of the Board of Fundação Casa de Jorge Amado, Artur Guimarães Sampaio, and the Director of the institution, Myriam Fraga; the Vice-Dean of the Federal University of Bahia, economist and PhD in Contemporary Communication and Culture, Paulo Miguez, who coordinated the team of researchers; and the curator of Casa do Rio Vermelho, the architect and scenographer Gringo Cardia, who was responsible for the implementation of museums such as the Red Cross Museum, in Switzerland.
A story told by friends and fans
Acquired in 1960 with proceeds from Jorge Amado's book "Gabriela, Cravo e Canela" rights sale to MGM, the house later became the title of Zelia Gattai's book published in 2002 telling the story of the couple when they lived in the property. There, the writers were visited by illustrious people, such as Glauber Rocha, Pablo Neruda, Tom Jobim, Dorival Caymmi, Roman Polanski, Jack Nicholson, Sartre, and Simone de Beauvoir, to name a few.
All this wealth is portrayed along the several rooms of the house, which has more than 1,000 square meters (nearly 11,000 square feet), including the garden where Jorge and Zélia's ashes are buried. Testimonials from celebrities, friends and relatives of the couple who used to visit the property will be exhibited in 15 minute videos divided in five screens in the so-called "Roda de Conversa" ("Conversation Table"). "It's a worldwide VIP list that will grow in the future, when we will have, for instance, the testimony of filmmaker Roman Polanski, who even said that, in his childhood, Jorge Amado' books were the only literature that discussed about freedom in Poland," said the curator, Gringo Cardia.
In total there are more than ten hours of video and projections at Casa do Rio Vermelho, making impossible to know the history of the property and the couple of writers in only one visit. To facilitate the experience of diving into the privacy of Jorge Amado and Zelia Gattai, the house was divided in several areas, while maintaining the original features, the rich collections and relevant documents, such as letters exchanged with national and international renowned individuals.
In addition to the “Roda de Conversa”, other rooms were also named: “A Bahia de Jorge Amado” (Jorge Amado's Bahia), “A amizade é o sal da vida” (Friendship is the Life's Seasoning), “A infância/Memórias de Dona Lalú” (Early childhood/Memories of Dona Lalú), “Os viajantes” (The Travellers), “Varanda” (Balcony), “Amores e amantes amadianos” (Amado's Loves and Lovers), “Zélia Gattai, companheira graças a Deus” (Zélia Gattai, Partner, Thanks God), “Trocando cartas/O comunista” (Exchanging Letters / The Communist), “Sala de leituras” (Reading Room), “Muita vida, tantas obras” (Full life, so many works), “Os amados sabores de Jorge” (The loving Jorge's tastes), “Cozinha de Dona Flor” (Dona Flor Kitchen), “Lago dos Sapos” (Frogs’ Lake), and “Jorge e o Candomblé” (Jorge and the Candomblé).
Loves and lovers
The room where Jorge Amado and Zelia Gattai used to sleep, which is called "Amores e amantes amadianos", now is visually decorated with striking characters such as Gabriela and Nacib, portrayed in works of artists such as Calazans Neto, Carybé, and Floriano Teixeira. The visitor can also hear narrations of excerpts of the works that show how love and sex were important to Jorge Amado.
Much of Jorge Amado's inspiration came from stories told by his mother, Dona Lalú, when he was a child. This relationship is depicted in the space called "A infância/Memórias de Dona Lalú". In this corner, there is a mock-up of the City of Ilhéus, where the writer, who was born in the District of Ferradas, in Itabuna, lived for a long time, and a sculpture of Jorge Amado when he was one year old next to the matriarch. In the place where was the swimming pool now is the "Lago dos Sapos", a kind of frog farm, with frogs and toads that fascinated the writer, and the display of the sound novel based on Jorge Amado' children's book called "O gato malhado e a andorinha Sinhá" (a history about a cat and a swallow).
In the garden, the magical place of the house, one of the areas highlights the relationship between the Obá (the civil rank he had in the place of worship Ilê Axé Apô Afonjá) Jorge Amado and the Candomblé religion, with an unprecedented testimony of Mother Stella addressing the friendship with the writer and basis of the African origin' religion. In the same area, the visitor can virtually interact with Carlinhos Brown using musical instruments that are typical of Candomblé rituals. It is worth remembering that Jorge Amado, when he was a deputy in 1945, was the author of the law that ensures the religious worship freedom right in Brazil.
Readings and tastes
"I did not write my first book thinking of becoming famous. I wrote due to the need to express my feelings," Jorge Amado, who published his first novel, "O país do Carnaval", in 1931, when he was only 19 years old. After his death on August 6, 2001, four days before his 89th birthday, the most famous Brazilian writer had published 45 books, according to the Fundação Casa de Jorge Amado. Most of these works had their excerpts read and recorded by artists and relatives and can be seen at the Rua Alagoinhas' house.
Forty-one readings are recorded on video, which can be seen in the "Sala das Leituras", next to the library, on a movie screen. Celebrities such as Caetano Veloso, Regina Casé, Daniela Mercury, Ivete Sangalo, Sônia Braga, Mariana Ximenez, Marisa Orth, Mateus Solano, Paloma Amado, Milton Gonçalves, and Paulinho da Viola are some of the persons who read excerpts from Jorge Amado' works. "These readings depict the timelessness of Jorge Amado, a writer ahead his time and who was popular because he had always portrayed the people," said Gringo Cardia.
Two rooms are dedicated to the role of gastronomy in Jorge Amado and Zelia Gattai's life and work: “Os amados sabores de Jorge” and “Cozinha de Dona Flor”. Dadá, the famous "quituteira" (pastry chef) from Bahia teaches some of the recipes of delicacies described in books such as "Dona Flor e seus dois maridos", such as the "punheta" (also called "bolinho de estudante", student's cake), vatapá, caruru, and acarajé. These two areas were carefully prepared by Paloma Amado, daughter of the couple, and author of the book "A comida baiana de Jorge Amado" with stories and recipes of typical dishes described in her father's works.
Free access to students and teachers
The Municipality invested BRL 6 million in public and private funds to recover the Casa do Rio Vermelho - Jorge Amado e Zélia Gattai. The property is expected to receive up to 10 thousand visitors per month and 30 thousand during the high season. The idea is for the house to be self-sustaining and for that each visitor has to buy a BRL 20.00 ticket (full price). Elementary and High School teachers have free access, as well as students from local and state public schools who visit the property upon scheduling. College students and seniors pay half price and children under 5 years also have free access to the house.
"We are entering in a partnership with the City Department of Education so that the Casa do Rio Vermelho may be often visited by students who will have contact with an important cultural universe that also depicts the history of Salvador and Bahia, free of charge. This way, we believe we will promote the interest in literature," said the Secretary of Development, Tourism and Culture, Guilherme Bellintani.
The Secretary reported that the Casa do Rio Vermelho will only open from Friday to Sunday during the first month after the opening. "This will be the time we will have to make the final adjustments and train staff," he said. After that, the property will open from Tuesday to Sunday, with capacity to receive 200 visitors by turn. Bellintani said that the Municipality expects that the Casa do Rio Vermelho can contribute to further increase the tourism in Salvador. "Jorge Amado and Zélia Gattai are a major hallmark not only from the cultural perspective, but also to draw visitors".
Guilherme Bellintani said that, by the end of 2016, more eight locations will be up and running under integrated management, with a single pass and direct impact on the tourists' stay in Salvador. "After opening the Casa de Jorge Amado, we will open the new Naval Museum of Farol da Barra, the Pierre Verger Space in Fort Santa Maria, and the Carybé Space, in Fort São Diogo."