KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT THE QUITANDINHA PALACE IN PETRÓPOLIS

Quitandinha Palace is a masterpiece that is just at the entrance of Petrópolis, a city that is located 70 km from Rio de Janeiro, about 1 hour to 1 hour and a half of travel. It began to be built in 1941 to be the largest casino hotel in South America, but it was not opened until 1944. The hotel appropriated the name of the farm on which it is located, which in turn was named after the stopping point for travelers, known as greengrocers.

We passed in front of the Palacio in our Petrópolis Tour, it is the best selling city tour after the Rio de Janeiro City Tour

THE IDEALIZER

Its creator was the businessman from Minas Gerais, Joaquim Rolla, who owned several casinos around Brazil, such as the famous Urca Casino in Rio de Janeiro and Icaraí Casino in Niterói, but none of them had the size of Quintandinha.

DIMENSIONS

The Norman-style palace on the outside and the Rococo Hollywoodian on the inside is 50,000 meters long, divided into 440 rooms and 13 large halls. These halls include a grand theater, a nightclub, a conference room, among others. The main hall, where the casino was, was the Mauá Hall, its dome is the second largest in the world without central pillars, 50 m in diameter and 30 m in height. This room was all built to deliver the best possible experience for players, with an echo replenisher and being all blue so the customer didn’t notice over time.

THE LAKE

The lake in front of Quitandinha Palace has always existed, but it was artificially modified to have the map format of Brazil. In addition, sand was brought from Copacabana beach to set up an artificial beach in front of the Hotel to further attract tourists.

RELEVANCE

Several famous people stayed and performed at Quitandinha. They passed the palace notable as Walt Disney, Bing Crosby, Orson Welles, among others. One singer who made her mark in the casino was Carmen Miranda, the remarkable little one. Moreover, it was in their halls that the signing of the declaration of war of the American countries to the Axis happened, during the second world war. In addition to the Inter-American Conference in 1946, with the presence of Getúlio Vargas and Evita Perón.

CURRENT TIMES

As early as 1946, gambling was banned in Brazil, which greatly damaged Quitandinha’s business. Thus, the hotel rooms were sold to individuals and the halls, currently run by the Social Service of Commerce – SESC, as a cultural center.