Nautico da Bahia Museum Review

At a promontory of the quarter Barra can be found one of the most interesting places of Salvador outside the Pelourinho, its historic center. It is an attraction, which covers three sights in one: a fort, a lighthouse and a maritime museum. First was the fort, the Forte de Santo Antonio, built in mid-16th century, 16 years before the foundation of Salvador itself. It was meant to protect the entrance to the Baia Todos os Santos from the north. Later several more forts were constructed around this important bay. Inside this fort then was erected the first lighthouse of South America, originally just a wooden shed with oil-lamps (1698), before it became a masonry tower with rotating kerosene lamps. In 1937 the lighthouse was electrified. This and more can be read on the several useful information boards in Portuguese and English throughout the museum. The Nautic Museum ist not very big, but covers many aspect of Brazil''s important relation with the sea.