The Rio Museum of Art was inaugurated during the commemoration of 448 years of Rio de Janeiro, on March 1st, 2013. It is a complex made up of two buildings with distinct architectural styles connected by suspended footbridges and a wave-shaped canopy.
The first building, Palace Dom João VI, an older building with an eclectic style, began construction in 1910 and was only finished after World War II. The objective was to headquarter the Ports and Canals Inspector of the Ministry of the Navy. The other building, the “Escola do Olhar” is a modernist construction from the 1940s, which housed the Mariano Procópio bus terminal, on the ground floor, and the Civil Police Hospital on the upper floors.
The Museum consists of 15-thousand square meters of construction and eight large exhibition rooms. The “Escola do Olhar” is used for arts and culture education.