Guia Cultural da Costa Verde

Mangaratiba • Itacuruçá

CENTRO FERROVIÁRIO DE CULTURA DE ITACURUÇÁ – CEFEC

A station that stands for culture and preservation of local memory

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This cultural venue is located in the former Itacuruçá railway station building and is one of the cultural facilities run by Fundação Mário Peixoto, which also maintains Biblioteca Constantino Paleólogo on the same spot, with a collection of 6000 books.

Visitors to CEFEC may view a permanent exhibition with items from the time when the station was in use, such as the ticket machine that came from Paris, the old telegraph, a bell dated 1880 and bearing a seal of Dom Pedro II, antique photographs and a heavy safe with a combination lock: it is said that it has never been opened. The memory room and cultural collection also include records and important documents on the history of Itacuruçá.

A large hall is reserved for exhibitions of visual arts, photographs and similar items, which are changed every month in accordance with a pre-defined annual calendar well organized by Eduardo de Almeida, the facility’s coordinator. This exhibition hall also serves for artists to show their paintings, autograph evenings, book publications and other cultural events.

The community is also provided with free workshop activities such as theater, capoeira lessons, painting on fabrics, handicrafts, weaving and knitting, biscuit and patchwork, with lessons by teachers from the region who currently see to 150 pupils every week. Several pupils exhibit and sell their work in the handicraft fair held on the Itacuruçá pedestrian walkway from Fridays to Sundays.

CEFEC produces lively events in the former station’s open areas such as capoeira exercises, theater and musical performances, contributing with free leisure activities for the region’s community and visitors. The program may be viewed in the Fundação Mário Peixoto website and blog, which provides details on CEFEC, its background and memory, as visible in the former station’s façade dated 1911.

Information