The SESC Arsenal, originally known as the Real Trem de Guerra and later the War Arsenal (), is a former

arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

Cuiabá Cuiabá () is the capital city and the largest city of the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. It is located near the geographical centre of South America and also forms the metropolitan area of Mato Grosso, along with the neighbouring town of Várz ...

Mato Grosso Mato Grosso ( – ) is one of the states of Brazil, the List of Brazilian states by area, third largest by area, located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

John VI of Portugal '' Dom'' John VI (; 13 May 1767 – 10 March 1826), known as "the Clement" (), was King of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves from 1816 to 1825, and after the recognition of Brazil's independence, titular Emperor of Brazil ...

mandated the creation of the arsenal in Cuiabá in 1818, shortly before the

Independence of Brazil The independence of Brazil comprised a series of political and military events that led to the independence of the Kingdom of Brazil from the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves as the Empire of Brazil, Brazilian Empire. It is c ...

in 1822. It was completed and subsequently expanded in the 1840s in response to territorial disputes with the newly independent Spanish states. The Arsenal played an important role during 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 wa ...

(1864-1870) as a center for weapons manufacture and repair of both Brazilian and captured Paraguayan weaponry. The Arsenal later became a prison and military headquarters. The Social Service of Commerce (SESC) took ownership of the arsenal in 1989, and renovated the structure from 1989 to 2002 into an artisans

market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market *Marketing, the act of sat ...

and

cultural center A cultural center or cultural centre is an organization, building or complex that promotes culture and arts. Cultural centers can be neighborhood community arts organizations, private facilities, government-sponsored, or activist-run. Africa * ...

under the name SESC Arsenal. The Arsenal was built in the French Neoclassical design of 19th century Brazil, and follows the same plan and appearance of government buildings of the period in Rio de Janeiro, many designed by Grandjean de Montigny. The SESC Arsenal has a large internal

courtyard A courtyard or court is a circumscribed area, often surrounded by a building or complex, that is open to the sky. Courtyards are common elements in both Western and Eastern building patterns and have been used by both ancient and contemporary a ...

now planted with a garden. Its façade is painted in a distinct

ocher Ochre ( ; , ), iron ochre, or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the col ...

with Neoclassical

relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...

s in white. The Arsenal was listed as a state-level listed historic structure by Mato Grosso in 1984.

History

John VI,

king of Portugal This is a list of Portuguese monarchs who ruled from the establishment of the Kingdom of Portugal, in 1139, to the deposition of the Portuguese monarchy and creation of the Portugal, Portuguese Republic with the 5 October 1910 revolution. Thro ...

, mandated the creation of the ''Real Trem de Guerra'' in Cuiabá in a

Royal Charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but ...

of April 18, 1818. Cuiabá maintained a strategic position in the 19th century due to Spanish territorial disputes at the end of its rule over the

Viceroyalty of Peru The Viceroyalty of Peru (), officially known as the Kingdom of Peru (), was a Monarchy of Spain, Spanish imperial provincial administrative district, created in 1542, that originally contained modern-day Peru and most of the Spanish Empire in ...

, and later the emergence of the independent states of

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

(1811), and more distantly,

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

(1810). Arms were produced, stored, and maintained at the ''Real Trem'', or royal arsenal. The decree gave specific instructions for its design and operation to be based entirely on the ''Real Trem'' of the

Captaincy of São Paulo The Royal Captaincy of São Paulo () was one of the captaincies of Colonial Brazil. It received this name on December 2, 1720, when John V of Portugal created the Captaincy of Minas Gerais from the division of the Captaincy of São Paulo and M ...

. Captain-General

Francisco de Paula Magessi de Carvalho Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Meaning of the name Francisco In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Commu ...

(1769-1847) began construction of the arsenal on April 22, 1819, shortly before the

in 1822. It was completed in 1832 under the newly-formed government of the

Empire of Brazil The Empire of Brazil was a 19th-century state that broadly comprised the territories which form modern Brazil and Uruguay until the latter achieved independence in 1828. The empire's government was a Representative democracy, representative Par ...

in response to the territorial disputes in the Platine regions, which included Paraguay, Bolivia, and Argentina. The War Train was renamed the ''Arsenal de Guerra da Província de Mato Grosso '' on November 15, 1831; its first director was Brigadier Jerônimo Joaquim Nunes (1769-?). Nunes was the second President of the provisional government of the province of Mato Grosso, holding the office from 1828 to 1830. Work on the arsenal continued throughout the mid-19th century, especially as the governors of Mato Grosso came into conflict with the government of Paraguay. The Artifices Apprentice Company () was installed at the arsenal in 1842. Apprentices were drawn from Mato Grosso and learned the trade of repair, maintenance, and build of small arms, and the company was the first official professional education initiative in the province of Mato Grosso. The arsenal was expanded in 1848 with the addition of flanking balconies. The Arsenal rose to full importance during the

(1864-1870) as a center for weapons manufacture and repair. Workers repaired both Brazilian and Paraguayan weaponry, which was returned to the battlefront for use in combat. The proclamation of the

Republic of Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth-largest country by area and the seventh-largest by population, with over 212 million people. The country is a federation c ...

in 1889 led to regional disputes across Brazil. Mato Grosso, similar to

Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...

and the state of

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, was the scene of pro- and anti-republican conflicts as well as an armed movement to establish Mato Grosso as an independent country in 1892. Independence forces took up arms and overthrew state president

Manuel Murtinho Manuel may refer to: People * Manuel (name), a given name and surname * Manuel (''Fawlty Towers''), a fictional character from the sitcom ''Fawlty Towers'' * Manuel I Komnenos, emperor of the Byzantine Empire * Manuel I of Portugal, king of Po ...

on February 1, 1892. However, on May 7 Generoso Ponce, at the head of 4,000 men, began the siege of the opposing forces in the capital and dominated them in less than a week. On June 22, Corumbá fell. With his Republican Party victorious, Murtinho returned to power. The Arsenal then became a prison, with prisoners serving sentences cleaning the squares, streets, streams of Cuiabá, as well as work on the Arsenal itself. The convicts were called ''galés'' or ''calcetas'', but workers at the Arsenal were complex, consisting of a mix of salaried laborers, slave laborers, and other forms of compulsory labor. The 16th Battalion of Caçadores, a light infantry battalion, took control of the Arsenal at the end of 1892. It was then used as an arms depot by the 9th Battalion of Construction Engineers. The Social Service of Commerce (SESC), a Brazilian non-profit, took over the complex in 1989. SESC adapted the Arsenal into a cultural center and artisans market later named ''Espaço Cultural SESC''. The renovation spanned from 1989 to 2002. The market is designated a "bulixo", a local Cuiabá name for emporiums that sold miscellaneous goods.

Structure

The Arsenal was built in the French Neoclassical design of the 19th century. It differs little from the Neoclassical government buildings of Rio de Janeiro, many designed or influenced by Grandjean de Montigny. The style was popular in Cuiabá, and all major government and education buildings in the 19th and early 20th century were built in a Neoclassical or eclectic Neoclassical style. The War Arsenal was followed by the State Treasury Building of Mato Grosso (1896), now the

Mato Grosso Historical Museum Mato may refer to: People *Ana Mato (born 1959), Spanish politician *Jakup Mato (1934–2005), Albanian publicist *Mato Miloš (born 1993), Croatian footballer *Mato Neretljak (born 1979), Croatian footballer * Mato Valtonen (born 1955), Finnish ...

, the Santa Casa, and the Palace of Instruction (''Palaçio da Instrução'', 1913). Other examples are found in the façade of the Headquarters of the 1st Battalion of Military Police of Mato Grosso and the Fountain of Mundéu. The Arsenal was built by local engineers who utilized building materials from Mato Grosso. The interior is protected by an uninterrupted porch. The flat areas of the façade are painted in

with

s in white; the color scheme accentuates the composition and classic linearity of the building. The military history of the building is preserved in the frieze of the arsenal, which has the

insignia An insignia () is a sign or mark distinguishing a group, grade, rank, or function. It can be a symbol of personal power or that of an official group or governing body. An insignia, which is typically made of metal or fabric, is a standalone sy ...

of the Casa Militar in symmetrical reliefs. The garden preserves the cannons inherited from the Brazilian Army. Successive renovations and expansions modified interior aspects but few structural changes were made to the original structure.

Interior

The Arsenal has a large internal

with a garden. The interior of the building is protected by an uninterrupted porch. A spatial

lattice Lattice may refer to: Arts and design * Latticework, an ornamental criss-crossed framework, an arrangement of crossing laths or other thin strips of material * Lattice (music), an organized grid model of pitch ratios * Lattice (pastry), an or ...

was designed by Ademar Poppi and "gains in lightness over the squat figure of the Market." The marquee of the interior courtyard was designed by Ernesto Galbiatto and "highlights the orthogonality of the Arsenal's internal courtyard". They courtyard is planted with mango trees, one of the symbols of Cuiabá.

Protected status

The SESC Arsenal was listed as a state-level historic structure by the State Secretary for Culture, Sports and Leisure of Mato Grosso (''Secretaria de Estado de Cultura, Esporte e Lazer de Mato Grosso'', SECEL) under listing no. 61/83 published January 1, 1984.

Access

The former arsenal functions as a tourism and cultural center and may be visited.

References

{{reflist, 2, refs= {{Cite Q, Q123406982, page=54-55 {{cite web , url=https://www.camaracuiaba.mt.gov.br/index.php?pag=tur_item&id=3 , title= Arsenal de Guerra , language=pt , publisher= Câmara Municipal de Cuiabá , place = Cuiabá , date=2023 , accessdate=2023-11-11 {{Cite Q, Q122615775 {{cite web , url=https://www.ipatrimonio.org/cuiaba-arsenal-de-guerra , title= Cuiabá – Arsenal de Guerra , language=pt , publisher= iPatrimonio , date=2023 , accessdate=2023-11-11 {{Cite Q, Q123530036, page=25 {{Cite Q, Q123360672, page=121 {{cite web , url= https://www.sescmt.com.br/index.php/2022/08/17/edificio-do-sesc-arsenal-tem-conexao-com-a-familia-real-portuguesa-e-preserva-memorias-da-guerra-do-paraguai/ , title= Edifício do Sesc Arsenal tem conexão com a família real portuguesa e preserva memórias da Guerra do Paraguai , language=pt , publisher= SESC-MT , date=2023 , accessdate=2023-11-11 Cuiabá Arsenals Buildings and structures completed in 1818 State heritage sites of Mato Grosso Neoclassical architecture in Brazil