Urca Casino

Urca is a traditional and wealthy residential neighborhood with nearly 7,000 inhabitants (2000 census) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Although most of the neighborhood dates from the 1920s, parts of it are much older. What is now called the Forte São João, a military base at the foot of the Sugarloaf Mountain, is where the first Portuguese settlement in Rio was founded by Estácio de Sá on March 1, 1565. The French had arrived 12 years earlier and founded a settlement, called France Antarctique, close to what is now Flamengo and Gloria districts, in downtown Rio. The French, riven by internal disputes between Catholics and Protestants, were massacred by the Portuguese and their Indian allies in attacks organised from here, expelling them from the nearby Villegagnon Island (named after the French commander Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon). The street now called Rua São Sebastião, in Urca, which leads from behind the fort to the Urca casino, was originally a trail from the Portuguese fort skirting the edge of the sea to the mainland along the peninsula that houses the Sugar Loaf and a smaller hill, the Morro da Urca. Rua São Sebastião thus has some claim to be the oldest street in Rio.

The Sugarloaf Mountain and Urca Hill Natural Monument (Portuguese: Monumento Natural Dos Morros Do Pão De Açúcar e Da Urca) is a natural monument in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It protects the Sugarloaf Mountain and the adjoining Morro da Urca, distinctive landmarks of the city.

Sugarloaf Mountain (Portuguese: Pão de Açúcar pronounced [ˈpɐ̃w̃ d͡ʒ(i) ɐˈsukaʁ]) is a peak situated in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, at the mouth of Guanabara Bay on a peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean. Rising 396 m (1,299 ft) above the harbor, its name is said to refer to its resemblance to the traditional shape of concentrated refined loaf sugar. It is known worldwide for its cableway and panoramic views of the city and beyond. The mountain is one of several monolithic granite and quartz mountains that rise straight from the water's edge around Rio de Janeiro. Geologically, it is considered part of a family of steep-sided rock outcroppings known as non-inselberg bornhardts. The mountain is protected by the Sugarloaf Mountain and Urca Hill Natural Monument, created in 2006. This became part of a World Heritage Site declared by UNESCO in 2012.

The Sugarloaf Cable Car (Portuguese: Bondinho do Pão de Açúcar) is a cableway system in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The first part runs between Praia Vermelha and Morro da Urca (at 722 feet (220 m)), from where the second rises to the summit of the 1,299-foot (396 m) Sugarloaf Mountain. The cableway was envisioned by the engineer Augusto Ferreira Ramos in 1908 who sought support from well-known figures of Rio's high society to promote its construction. Opened in 1912, it was only the third cableway to be built in the world. In 1972 the cars were updated, growing from a capacity of 22 to 75, and in 1979 it featured in an action scene for the James Bond film Moonraker. Today it is used by approximately 2,500 visitors every day. The cable cars run every 30 minutes, between 8 am and 10 pm.

The Instituto Militar de Engenharia (IME; English: Army Engineering Institute) is an engineering institute maintained by the Brazilian Army with federal support. IME is the oldest and one of the best ranked engineering schools in Brazil, according to the Brazilian Ministry of Education. Its current campus is located in Urca, Rio de Janeiro, opposite the entrance to the Sugar Loaf cable car.

The Earth Sciences Museum (Museu de Ciências da Terra) is a geological museum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The building was part of the National Exposition of Brazil in 1908. Its collection includes minerals, fossils, and geological exhibits. The building was constructed in 1907 for the National Exposition of Brazil and was intended to be permanent. At the exposition, it was the States Pavilion.

Instituto Benjamin Constant (IBC) is a part of Brazil's Ministry of Education, and is charged with promoting educational opportunities for the visually impaired. It is located in the neighborhood of Urca in Rio de Janeiro. IBC was created by imperial decree in 1854, and is named after the Brazilian soldier and intellectual Benjamin Constant. In addition to education and advocacy, it houses a braille press and offers courses in braille reading and publication.

Carmen Miranda Museum (Museu Carmen Miranda), located in the Parque Brigadeiro Eduardo Gomes (Flamengo Park), is a museum established in homage to singer and actress Carmen Miranda and open to the public since 1976. The museum was officially opened on the 21st anniversary of her death.The museum exhibits iconographic costumes, including her tall fruit hats and platform-heeled shoes, and artifacts belonging to Carmen, as well as many of her records and films. In the second half of 2015, the new headquarters for the Carmen Miranda Museum will be opened at Rio de Janeiro's new Museum of Image and Sound (MIS).

The Brazilian Center for Research in Physics (Portuguese: Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas, CBPF) is a physics research center in the Urca neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro sponsored by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), linked to the Ministry of Science and Technology. CBPF was founded in 1949 from a joint effort of Cesar Lattes, José Leite Lopes, and Jayme Tiomno. Throughout its existence, CBPF became an internationally renowned research institution, organizing several international meetings and hosting many renowned physicists, like Richard Feynman and J. Robert Oppenheimer. It was also the starting point of important Brazilian institutions, like the National Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA), the National Laboratory for Scientific Computation (LNCC) and the National Laboratory of Synchrotron Light (LNLS). Since its creation, CBPF has been one of the most important Physics research institutions in Brazil, and its graduate program ranks among the best in the country.

Leme (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈlẽmi], rudder) is an upper-middle-class neighborhood in the South Zone of the City of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, next to Copacabana, Urca and Botafogo. The neighborhood takes its name from a nearby rock formation whose shape resembles the rudder of a ship. In 1975 was built one of the tallest buildings in the Leme beach; the hotel Le Méridien. Le Méridien closed in 2007 and was sold in 2009 to Windsor Hotels for around R$170 million. After a refurbishment, it was reopened in January 2011 as the Windsor Atlantica Hotel. Every year in the days leading up to New Year's on December 31 the traditional processions honoring Yemaja begin here. The famous party of Réveillon or New Year's Eve in Copacabana extends completely into Leme as well.

The Rio Sul Center Tower, also known as Rio Sul Tower, is the fourteenth tallest building in Brazil and the tallest building in Rio de Janeiro at 164 metres (538 ft) and 50 floors, 48 above ground and 2 below. The structure contains 28 elevators It was completed in 1982.The building was designed by architects Ulysses Burlamaqui and Alexandre Chan in the Brutalist architectural style. The tower, together with a 400 stores shopping mall called Riosul Shopping Center, form a commercial complex known as Rio Sul Center.

The Villa-Lobos Theater (Portuguese: Teatro Villa-Lobos) is located in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. It opened in 1979 and belongs to the Anita Mantuano Foundation for the Arts of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Fundação Anita Mantuano de Artes do Estado do Rio de Janeiro - FUNARJ), which is linked to the Rio de Janeiro State Department of Culture (Secretaria Estadual de Cultura do Rio).