Pelourinho in Salvador

The word refers to pillory a column of stone, usually located in the center of a square, where criminals were exposed and punished. In colonial Brazil was primarily used to punish slaves.

History

The story of Salvadorian neighborhood is intimately tied to the history of the city itself, founded in 1549 by Sousa, first governor-general of Brazil (when John III was the reigning monarch), who chose the place where it is located in Pelourinho Its strategic location - at the top, near the port and the commercial area and a natural barrier formed by an abrupt rise of land, real wall up to 90 meters high and 15km in length - making it easier to defend the city.
It was a highly residential neighborhood, where he concentrated the best houses, until the early twentieth century.
From the year 1960, the Pelourinho suffered a major degradation process, with the modernization of the city and the transfer of economic activities to other regions of Salvador, they transform the region's historical center in a den of prostitution and criminality.
Only since the 1980s (with the recognition of the houses as World Heritage by UNESCO) and 1990s (with the revitalization of the region) is that the pillory became what is today: a center of "effervescence" cultural.
In recent decades, the Pelourinho began to attract artists from all genres: film, music, painting, making it an important cultural center of Salvador.