Santos Dumont House Museum

Santos Dumont House Museum

Established	1932 (93 years ago) (1932)
Location	Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Coordinates	22°30′37″S 43°11′03″W
Type	Biographical museum Writer's home Historic house museum

Santos Dumont Museum House (Portuguese: Museu Casa de Santos Dumont), better known as The Enchanted (Portuguese: A Encantada), is a museum located in the municipality of Petrópolis, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.[1]

The house is a picturesque residence built in 1918 for Aeronaut Alberto Santos-Dumont on a steep hillside near the centre of the city.[1] The street is Rua do Encanto, meaning "Enchanted Street", so the house was nicknamed A Encantada, "The Enchanted".[1][2] It was constructed with the help of engineer Eduardo Pederneiras.[3]

The house has some unusual innovations. Most notably, one of his inventions was the shower with hot water,[1] the only one of Brazil at that time,[3] being heated with alcohol.[2][4] The external staircase of the house can only be climbed starting with the right foot,[1][3][4] while the internal staircase can only started with the left foot.[3][4][2] The internal architecture of the house is unusual for the period in that no partitions are used between the rooms.[2][3] The house also has no kitchen,[3] Santos-Dumont having all his meals delivered from the restaurant of the Palace Hotel,[2] which at that time was across the street. It is now the Catholic University of Petrópolis.[4]

The house has three floors, plus an observatory on the roof.[1][2][3]

Santos-Dumont's second book, O que eu vi, o que nós veremos, was written in the house in 1918.[4]

After his death, the house was donated to the City Hall of Petrópolis by his nephews so that "an institution was installed that would maintain his memory."[3][4][5]

On July 14, 1952, the house was registered by IPHAN and today is part of the National Historical and Artistic Heritage.[1][6][5]

References

1. "Museu Casa de Santos Dumont" [Museum House of Santos Dumont]. Archived from the original on September 7, 2018. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
2. "5 motivos para conhecer o Museu Casa de Santos Dumont, em Petrópolis" [5 reasons to visit the Santos Dumont House Museum in Petrópolis]. Archived from the original on September 22, 2018. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
3. "Museu Casa de Santos Dumont (Mapa de Cultura RJ)" [Museum House of Santos Dumont (Map of Culture RJ)]. Archived from the original on February 12, 2019. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
4. "Casa de Santos Dumont em Petrópolis" [House of Saints Dumont in Petrópolis]. Archived from the original on March 26, 2018. Retrieved July 18, 2019.
5. "Monumentos e Espaços Públicos Tombados - Petrópolis (RJ)" [Monuments and Public Spaces Registered - Petrópolis (RJ)]. Archived from the original on December 26, 2018. Retrieved July 18, 2019.
6. "Vários prédios tombados pelo Iphan no Centro Histórico precisam de restauração" [Several buildings listed by Iphan in the Historic Center need restoration]. Archived from the original on July 18, 2019. Retrieved July 18, 2019.