Viewpoints – Placecloud (English)

Krakow Poland We are standing in front of the Jagiellonian Library, located in the city of Kraków, Poland. The Jagiellonian Library is part of the University with the same name, originally founded in 1364, and houses almost 6.7 million volumes, making it one of the largest libraries in Poland.

Recife Brazil We’re standing on the 21st century version of the Maurício de Nassau Bridge, in the center of Recife. On the day of the inauguration of its first version, on 28 February 1644, a flying ox crossed a gallery in the garden of Governor Maurice de Nassau, sending the population into a delirium.

Recife Brazil Like many Brazilian cities, Recife has several streets and avenues that honour historical figures. Avenida Cruz Cabugá pays tribute to one of the most important figures in the Pernambuco Revolution of 1817, Avenida Miguel Arraes de Alencar is named after the governor who administered the state of Pernambuco for three terms, while the busy Avenida Governador Agamenon Magalhães reminds...

Recife Brazil The book Rerum per octennium in Brasilia, roughly meaning Eight years in Brazil, originally published in 1647 by Caspar Barlaeus, is one of the main historical sources on the period of Dutch Brazil governed by Maurice de Nassau, between 1637 and 1644.

Natal Brazil ‘Your Excellency should know that this fort has been entrusted to my custody by Her Catholic Majesty and I will hand it over to her alone.’ So wrote Pero Mendes de Gouveia, the Portuguese governor of the captaincy of Rio Grande do Norte, when he was surrounded by Dutch invaders in December 1633. After reading the note, Baltazar Bigma, the Dutch lieutenant colonel, ordered a voracious...

Cicero ndia Brazil ‘Here, in 1646, the women of Tejucupapo were treated as heroines for having, with their weapons, alongside their husbands, sons and brothers, repelled 600 Dutchmen who retreated defeated.’ This text is printed on the plaque of the Monumento das Trincheiras, in Goiana, Zona da Mata Norte in the state of Pernambuco, attached to an obelisk erected in honour of the first battle foug...

Recife Brazil The city of Recife is in the Guinness Book of Records for being the home of Galo da Madrugada, a carnival group founded in 1978 and which, since 1994, holds the title of hosting the largest carnival in the world. Every Saturday of Carnival, the group takes to the streets with more than two million people in a parade that culminates here, on Avenida Guararapes, where we are now.

Recife Brazil You might have come here looking for a great outdoor historical heritage site. What you find is a large square on the edge of a long road called Avenida do Forte. Well, you have arrived. If you look closely, the square and the avenue are flat, but in the centre of the green space, the raised earth stands out from the rest of the landscape.

Jaboat o dos Guararapes Brazil Here in the Guararapes National Historical Park, located in the municipality of Jaboatão dos Guararapes, it might be your lucky day if you’re able to attend a staging of the theatre show Batalha dos Guararapes - Assim Nasceu a Pátria, meaning The Battle of Guararapes - This is How the Motherland was Born.

Cabo de Santo Agostinho Brazil We are in the city of Cabo de Santo Agostinho, in the state of Pernambuco. The path that leads into the woods, here, will get you to the ruins of an old flour mill, where manioc, cassava flour, used to be processed, a central element for subsistence in Brazil, as well as in Dutch Brazil between 1630 and 1654, representing both an economic resource and a cultural brid...

Recife Brazil Dois Irmãos State Park has been a zoo and Atlantic Forest conservation unit since 1916. Covering 14 hectares, it protects local biodiversity such as sloths, marmosets and birds, as well as housing the Recife Zoo, with 400 animals under human care, including reptiles, birds and mammals.

Recife Brazil One of the first breweries in the Americas, La Fontaine or The Fountain in French, was located here in the Graças neighbourhood, in the northern part of Recife.

Recife Brazil We’re here in one of Recife's largest outdoor leisure areas, Sítio da Trindade. Here you can go for a run, bring the kids to the park or just relax in the shade of the vast wooded area.

Recife Brazil If you're listening to this very text, not reading it, in front of this beautiful red house in the heart of the city's historic center, it's certainly not carnival.

Wilmington United States We’re at Fort Christina Park, once the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America and the principal location of the New Sweden colony. The fort was built in 1638 and named after Queen Christina of Sweden.

On January 27, 1654, here in the vicinity of Forte das Cinco Pontas, where we are now, the capitulation of the Dutch troops was signed, in favour of the Portuguese, handing back control of the colony to its former masters.

Recife Brazil Anyone who enters the Capela Dourada, the Golden Chapel, where we are now, can hardly fail to be impressed by the beauty of this almost entirely gold-plated temple.

Recife Brazil We are standing in front of the rectory of Uninassau, located in the Graças neighbourhood in Recife. The Maurice de Nassau University pays homage to a central figure of the Dutch invasion of Pernambuco in the 17th century: Count Maurice de Nassau, who ruled Dutch Brazil from 1637 to 1644.

Jaboat o dos Guararapes Brazil Here, at Monte dos Guararapes, two decisive battles took place that led to the expulsion of the Dutch from Brazil in 1654, after 24 years of private colonisation by the entrepreneurs of the Dutch West India Company, with the backing of the Dutch States General, that is, the Dutch government.

Recife Brazil Here, in the Church of Nossa Senhora dos Militares, in the Santo Antônio neighbourhood of Recife, we find one of the best-known representations of the Battles of Guararapes, decisive battles between the Portuguese and Dutch, here in the northeast of Brazil.

Recife Brazil The Boa Viagem neighbourhood, where we find ourselves now, is Recife's favourite tourist destination. It's home to the lovely beach of the same name. Anyone visiting here can also check out the important work of one of Pernambuco's leading artists, Francisco Brennand, who passed away in 2019.

Cicero ndia Brazil In Maria Camarão square, in the centre of the district of Tejucupapo, in the municipality of Goiana, Pernambuco, in the north-east of Brazil, stands a statue of a proud woman holding a vessel over her head and a knife in her right hand. The character here depicted has the same name as the square and is the symbol of a people who remember their own history.

The Hague The Netherlands We’re standing on the beach at Scheveningen, the beach right next to the city of The Hague. Somewhere off the coast, around here, the Polish conquistador, Krzysztof Arciszewski, was the first Pole to go for a stroll on the bottom of the sea.

Recife Brazil The Brum Fort, where we are now, was begun by the Portuguese in 1629. At the start of construction, it was called Forte Diego Paes and its purpose was to reinforce the security of the port of Recife against possible invasions.

Recife Brazil The Maurício de Nassau Bridge, where we are now, provides a lovely view of the city of Recife.