Fort Copacabana ( pt, Forte de Copacabana, ) is a military base at the south end of the beach that defines the district of

Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro Copacabana () is a ''bairro'' (neighbourhood) located in the South Zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is most prominently known for its 4 km (2.5 miles) balneario beach, which is one of the most famous in the wor ...

. The base is open to the public and contains the ''Museu Histórico do Exército'' (Army Historical Museum) and a coastal defense fort that is the actual Fort Copacabana.

History

The fort is built on a headland that originally contained a small chapel holding a replica of the Virgen de Copacabana, the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

of Bolivia. In 1908 the Brazilian army started to build a modern coastal defense fort on the headland to protect both the beach of Copacabana and the entrance to the harbour of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

. The fort, completed in 1914, consists of two armoured cupolas, one holding a pair of Krupp cannons, and the other a pair of Krupp cannons. The name of the turret with the 305mm guns is "Duque de Caxias", and the guns are named "Barroso" and "Osório". This cupola is behind and above that of the 190 mm guns so that it can fire over them. The 305 mm Krupp guns could fire a shell of some a distance of up to . The name of the cupola with the 190 mm guns is "André Vidal". These guns could fire from to . Luís Alves de Lima e Silva, Duque de Caxias was a Portuguese army marshal and politician, and one of the founders of the Brazilian army in the early 19th century. Francisco Manuel Barroso da Silva was an early Brazilian admiral. Manuel Luís Osório was a Brazilian military and political figure from Rio. André Vidal de Negreiros was a governor of the Portuguese colony of Brazil in the 17th century. The fort also has two small retractable casements on the flanks, each of which held a quick-firing gun with a 180° traverse and a range of . Unlike the large Krupp guns, these 75 mm guns are no longer in place. The north casement is named "Antônio João" and the south casement is named "Ricardo Franco".Antônio João Ribeiro was a cavalry lieutenant who distinguished himself in the

Paraguayan War The Paraguayan War, also known as the War of the Triple Alliance, was a South American war that lasted from 1864 to 1870. It was fought between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance of Argentina, the Empire of Brazil, and Uruguay. It was the deadlies ...

. Ricardo Franco de Almeida Serra was a Portuguese soldier who was important in the early 19th century in Brazil and who is credited with being a founder of the Brazilian army's engineers. On 5 July 1922, the fort was the centre point of the 18 of the Copacabana Fort revolt. It was the first revolt of the ''tenentista'' movement, in the context of the Brazilian Old Republic. The rebellious officers turned the fort's guns on Rio de Janeiro. To suppress the revolt, the government brought the battleships ''São Paulo'' and ''Minas Geraes''. On 6 July ''São Paulo'' bombarded the fort, firing five salvos and obtaining at least two hits; the fort surrendered half an hour later. ''Minas Geraes'' did not fire. Brazil disbanded its coastal defense artillery branch in 1987. At that time the military deactivated the fort, at least as far as its role as a coastal artillery post was concerned. Except for the cupola at the fort on San Paolo Island outside the harbour of Taranto, the cupolas of Copacabana fort, together with other cupolas at nearby Fort Lage (Forte Tamandaré da Laje: 2 × 240 mm, 2 × 150 mm, and 2 × 2 × 75 mm) and Fort Imbui (Forte D. Pedro II do Imbuí: 2 × 280 mm L/40 and 2 × 2 × 75 mm L/25 Krupp guns), are the only remaining heavy fortress cupolas of the Krupp design in the world.

Visiting the fort

The hours for the Museum are 10 am to 6 pm and the fort are 10 am to 8 pm, Tuesday to Sunday and holidays. Admission for adults is R$6 per adult; there are discounts and free tours for the elderly and children. At the entrance to the base there is a guard in the uniform that was current when the fort was opened in 1914.

Museum and artillery park

The museum has several exhibits focusing on different periods and events in the history of the army in Brazil. The Brazilian Expeditionary Force's participation in the Italian campaign in World War II gets only limited treatment, and Brazil's involvement in World War I receives no treatment. Outside the museum there are several artillery pieces from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. For instance, one field piece is a 5-barrel quick-firing gun, each barrel being of . Brazil purchased this Hotchkiss revolving cannon in 1876. Another field piece is a British-made

Vickers-Armstrong Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927. The majority of the company was nationalised in the 1960s and 1970s, w ...

Mark XIX 6-inch (152.4 mm) gun, made in 1918. Brazil purchased this piece in 1940 for use in coastal defense. There are also three Schneider M1919

mountain guns Mountain guns are artillery pieces designed for use in mountain warfare and areas where usual wheeled transport is not possible. They are generally capable of being taken apart to make smaller loads for transport by horses, humans, mules, tractor ...

2016 Summer Olympics

For the 2016 Summer Olympics, the fort hosted the cycling road race (start and finish),

marathon swimming Marathon swimming is a class of open water swimming defined by long distances (at least ) and traditional rules based in English Channel swimming. Unlike marathon foot-races which have a specifically defined distance, ''marathon swims'' vary in ...

and

triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the ...

events.Rio de Janeiro Olympic venues map

Notes

References

External links

Fort Copacabana Official Site and Museum of the History of the Army

Copacabana Fort Travel Guide
{{Authority control Copacabana Coastal artillery Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro Museums in Rio de Janeiro (city) Military and war museums in Brazil Venues of the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic cycling venues Olympic swimming venues Olympic triathlon venues Government buildings completed in 1914 1914 establishments in Brazil Buildings and structures in Rio de Janeiro (city)