section_path: Culture/Museums
section_name: Museums
paragraph_text: Museums
  
  São Paulo has many neighborhoods and buildings of historical value. The city has a large number of museums and art galleries. Among the museums in the city are São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP), the Ipiranga Museum, the Museum of Sacred Art, the Museum of the Portuguese Language, the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, among other renowned institutions. It also houses one of the top five zoos in the world, the São Paulo Zoo.
  
  The Ipiranga Museum is the first monument built to preserve the memory of the Independence of Brazil, opened on 7 September 1895, with the name of Natural Science Museum]. In 1919, it became a history museum. Reflecting the architectural influence of the Versailles Palace in France, the Ipiranga's collection, with approximately 100,000 pieces, comprises works of art, furniture, clothing and appliances that belonged to those who took part in Brazilian history, such as explorers, rulers and freedom fighters. Its facilities house a library with 100,000 books and the "Centro de Documentação Histórica", Historic Documentation Center, with 40,000 manuscripts.
  
  The Ema Gordon Klabin Cultural Foundation opened to the public in March 2007. Its headquarters is a 1920s mansion. It houses 1545 works, including paintings by Marc Chagall, Pompeo Batoni, Pierre Gobert and Frans Post, Brazilian modernists Tarsila do Amaral, Di Cavalcanti and Portinari, period furniture, decorative and archeological pieces.
  
  Stretching over 78 thousand square meters (0.84 million square feet), Memorial da América Latina (Latin America's Memorial) was conceived to showcase Latin American countries and their roots and cultures. It is home to the headquarters of Parlamento Latino-Americano – Parlatino (Latin American Parliament). Designed by Oscar Niemeyer, Memorial has an exhibition pavilion with permanent exhibition of the continent's craftwork production; a library with books, newspapers, magazines, videos, films and records about the history of Latin America; and a 1,679-seat auditorium.
  
  Hospedaria do Imigrante (Immigrant's Hostel) was built in 1886 and opened in 1887. Immigrant's Hostel was built in Brás to welcome the immigrants who arrived in Brazil through the Port of Santos, quarantining those who were sick and helping new arrivals to find work in coffee plantations in Western, Northern and Southwestern São Paulo State and Northern Paraná State. From 1882 to 1978, 2.5 million immigrants of more than 60 nationalities and ethnicities were guests there, all of them duly registered in the museum's books and lists. The hostel hosted approximately 3,000 people on average, but occasionally reached 8,000. The hostel received the last immigrants in 1978. In 1998 the hostel became a museum, where it preserves the immigrants' documentation, memory and objects. Located in one of the few remaining centenarian buildings, the museum occupies part of the former hostel. The museum also restores wooden train wagons from the former São Paulo Railway. Two restored wagons inhabit the museum. One dates from 1914, while a second class passenger car dates from 1931. The museum records the names of all immigrants who were hosted there from 1888 to 1978.
  
  MASP has one of world's most important collections of European art. The most important collections cover Italian and French painting schools. The museum was founded by Assis Chateaubriand and is directed by Pietro Maria Bardi. Its headquarters, opened in 1968, were designed by Lina Bo Bardi. MASP organizes temporary exhibitions in special areas. Brazilian and international exhibitions of contemporary arts, photography, design and architecture take turn during the whole year.
  
  Located next to the Luz metro station, the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo was projected by architect Ramos de Azevedo in 1895. It was constructed to house an Arts Lyceum. In 1911, it became a museum, where it hosts a number of art exhibitions, such as bronze statues of French sculptor Auguste Rodin took place in 2001. There is also a permanent exhibition on the "Resistance" movement that took place during military dictatorship in the Republican period, including a reconstructed prison cell where political prisoners were kept.
  
  The Catavento Museum is an interactive museum, inaugurated in 2009. It is dedicated to science and its dissemination, and is located in the Palácio das Indústrias ("Palace of the Industries"). The 12,000 square meter space is divided into 4 sections: "Universo" ("Universe"),"Vida" ("Life"), "Engenho" ("Ingenuity") and "Sociedade" ("Society") and has more than 250 installations. Aimed at young audiences, it was founded by the state secretariats of culture and education, with an investment of 20 million reais after 14 months of construction.
  
  The Oca (oca means thatched house in Native Brazilian Tupi-Guarani) is a white, spaceship-like building sitting in the greens of Ibirapuera Park. An exhibition place with more than 10 thousand square meters (0.11 million square feet). Modern art, Native Brazilian art, and photographie are some of the topics of past thematic exhibitions.
  
  Museu da Imagem e do Som (Image and Sound Museum) preserves music, cinema, photography and graphical arts. MIS has a collection of more than 200,000 images. It has more than 1,600 fiction videotapes, documentaries and music and 12,750 titles recorded in Super 8 and 16 mm film. MIS organizes concerts, cinema and video festivals and photography and graphical arts exhibitions.
  
  The Museum of Art of the Parliament of São Paulo is a contemporary art museum housed in the Palácio 9 de Julho, the Legislative Assembly of São Paulo house. The museum is run by the Department of Artistic Heritage of the Legislative Assembly and has paintings, sculpture, prints, ceramics and photographs, exploring the Brazilian contemporary art.
  
  The Museu do Futebol (Football Museum) is at the famous soccer stadium Paulo Machado de Carvalho, which was built in 1940 during Getúlio Vargas presidency. The museum shows the history of soccer with a special attention to the memories, emotions and cultural values promoted by the sport during the 20th and 21st centuries in Brazil. The visit also includes fun and interactive activities, 16 rooms from the permanent collection, plus a temporary exposition.