Manaus City Hall revitalizes square in ‘noble’ area of the city and ‘ignores’ historical squares

Marcela Leiros – Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – Despite representing important landmarks in the history of Amazonas, the historical squares have suffered with the negligence of the municipal public administration. Places like Praça da Saudade and Praça dos Remédios, in the center of the capital city of Amazonas, survive time, but “wither” with the lack of maintenance, cleaning and even vandalism. Meanwhile, other squares, located in prime areas of Manaus, receive special attention from the municipal departments.

This is the case of the recently named Lawyers’ Square Dr. Alberto Simonetti Cabral Filho, at Guilherme Paraense avenue, south-central zone of Manaus. The space has received, since last year, services of weeding, pruning and sweeping of the Municipal Department of Urban Cleaning (Semulsp). This month, the Manaus City Hall installed the monument “A flock of butterflies”, by artist Rossy Amoedo at the site.

The region is known for being a high standard residential area in the city. According to entities and broker associations in Manaus, the Adrianópolis neighborhood presents one of the most complete urbanization projects in the capital, composed of tree-lined streets, wide sidewalks, and a great infrastructure. It is also worth mentioning that in the neighborhood there are units of the most famous hotel chains in the country, besides one of the busiest malls in the capital and bank branches, supermarkets, schools and all kinds of trade.

Read also: National Heritage, Adolpho Lisboa Market suffers from vandalism and mischaracterization

The square is a posthumous tribute to a magistrate who was four times president of the Brazilian Bar Association – Amazonas Section (OAB-AM) and served as public defender of the state. CENARIUM asked Semulsp about the amount used in the artistic structure, but did not get an answer until the publication of this story.

Dr. Alberto Simonetti Cabral Filho Lawyers’ Square, at Guilherme Paraense Avenue, Manaus Center-South area (Ricardo Oliveira/ Revista Cenarium)

Dr. Alberto Simonetti Cabral Filho Lawyers’ Square, at Guilherme Paraense Avenue, Manaus Center-South area (Ricardo Oliveira/ Revista Cenarium)

Dr. Alberto Simonetti Cabral Filho Lawyers’ Square, at Guilherme Paraense Avenue, Manaus Center-South area (Ricardo Oliveira/ Revista Cenarium)

On the other side of town, in the Historical Center, the Praça 5 de Setembro, known as Praça da Saudade, has become an almost abandoned area. Inaugurated in 1865, this tourist spot in Manaus has become a target for graffiti. The benches and kiosks of the square, delivered in perfect condition when it was revitalized and re-inaugurated in 2010, are rusted and fall with the poor conservation of the structure. Even a shack where a family resided was installed irregularly on the site, but removed soon after.

Graffiti at Praça da Saudade, in Manaus (Ricardo Oliveira/ Revista Cenarium)

Graffiti at Praça da Saudade, in Manaus (Ricardo Oliveira/ Revista Cenarium)

Bench rusted by graffiti at Praça da Saudade, in Manaus (Ricardo Oliveira/ Revista Cenarium)

Kiosks collapsing in the Praça da Saudade, in Manaus (Ricardo Oliveira/ Revista Cenarium)

In Praça da Saudade, in Manaus, a family set up a shack (Ricardo Oliveira/ Revista Cenarium)

The Praça dos Remédios, located in front of the church that bears the same name and one of the gateways to the city, delivered revitalized in 2014 by the Government of Amazonas, has become home to homeless people. On site, CENARIUM found that even the lunch of these people is made on site with a fire.

Remedios Square today. (Ricardo Oliveira/ Cenarium Magazine)

Monument in Praça dos Remédios at the handover of the renovation in 2014 (Nathalie/ Agecom)

Lack of response

The CENARIUM contacted the public administration to find out who is responsible for the sites, but, until the close of this report, there was no return. Of the agencies contacted – Municipal Department of Environment and Sustainability (Semmas), Municipal Department of Infrastructure (Seminf), Municipal Department of Urban Cleaning (Semulsp), Municipal Institute of Urban Planning (Implurb) and even the Municipal Department of Communication (Semcom) – only Implurb and Seminf responded.

The first stated that the management of Praça da Saudade is not within its competence and the second forwarded the demand to Semcom.