Porto Alegre

Lore & Background

The official date of the foundation of the city of Porto Alegre is 26 March 1772, by Manuel Sepúlveda, when Freguesia de São Francisco do Porto dos Casais was created and changed a year later to Nossa Senhora da Madre de Deus de Porto Alegre. However, the village started in 1752, when 60 Azorean couples were brought over by the Treaty of Madrid. On 24 July 1773, Porto Alegre became the capital city of the province, when the administration of Manuel Sepúlveda, who used the pseudonym José Marcelino de Figueiredo, officially started.

In Their Own Story

It is a Thursday in late August, and the air above Porto Alegre tastes of cold river water and woodsmoke. The Arena do Grêmio glows against the bruised purple sky, its white facade a stark blade in the dark. Inside, the concourse is already a river of blue—scarves, flags, the sharp crack of a tamborim. A father presses a small Gremio crest into his daughter's palm, the way his own father did before a Grenal in 1987. The gates open. The roar that follows is not a sound but a pressure, a physical wave that hits the chest and rearranges the ribs. On the pitch, the grass is a deep, almost black green under the floodlights, and the goal nets stand like white sails. The first touch of the ball is swallowed by the noise. Somewhere in the upper tier, an old man in a faded 1983 jersey hums the club hymn, eyes closed, and for a moment the Arena is the Olímpico, the year is 1983, and the whole city is holding its breath for that final, impossible, glorious goal.

Reader's Guide

The city lies on the eastern bank of the Guaíba Lake, where five rivers converge to form the Lagoa dos Patos. Porto Alegre has a long coastline on the Guaíba Lake, and its topography is punctuated by 40 hills. The city is known for its churrasco and chimarrão. It hosted the World Social Forum in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2010, and was a venue for the 1950 and 2014 FIFA World Cups.

Did You Know?

• Porto Alegre was founded in 1769 by Manuel Jorge Gomes de Sepúlveda, who used the pseudonym José Marcelino de Figueiredo to hide his identity.
• The city became famous for being the first city that implemented participatory budgeting.
• Porto Alegre hosted the 9th Assembly of the World Council of Churches in 2006.
• Since 2000, Porto Alegre hosts one of the world's largest free software events, called FISL.