The next area to visit is the region around the square Praça da Luz, which you can reach by metro. Arrival is at the train station Estação da Luz. This was built in the late 19th century, the current building finished in 1901. The station was assembled in Glasgow (Scotland), then disassembled and sent to São Paulo where it was reassembled. In the main entrance hall there is a piano player nowadays, making you feel decades back. If you want to read more about the station, have a look at wikipedia. In the train station there also is the Museum of the Portuguese Language which opened in 2006 and should be interesting for those who want to know a bit more about the Brazilian Portuguese, which is different from the Portuguese in Portugal (more inwikipedia).
Leaving the main entrance of the Estação da Luz and crossing the street you enter the Parque da Luz, also called Jardim da Luz (Garden). In 1798 was the opening of a Botanical garden, in 1825 it was changed to a Public Garden, the first one in São Paulo. Later a part was taken away to construct the Estação da Luz as well as a college and the Liceum of Art and Artcraft. Since then the park has 113.400 sq. meters. Passing some bad times as in the 1970s as a place of drugs and prostitution, the government began a revitalization of the quarter in the 1990s, a renovation of the park and also of the pinacoteca, also increasing security by present police. Today it is a safe and beautiful place, with some sculptures in the park. The Pinacoteca, the former Liceum of Arts and Artcraft offers also international exhibitions. For example, in 2010 there was the largest exhibition of Andy Warhol ever made which took place in its branch Estação Pinacoteca nearby. In 2015 there was an exhibition of Ron Mueck (in Wikipedia– the program, but only in portuguese).
