In the Christmas of the year when Fernanda Montenegro, protagonist of Central do Brasill, was elected to the Brazilian Academy of Letters (ABL), Rio de Janeiro recovered its most iconic watch, symbol of the location that named the feature film that took the city’s image to the 1999 Oscar, in which the great lady from the stage was nominated for the best actress award.
Inaugurated in 1943, the Central do Brasil clock once again set the correct time this Saturday (25), after a year out of service due to lack of maintenance.
The four-faced clock of the building, in art Deco, stands on top of a tower of 110 meters and 32 floors. The equipment occupies four floors of the tower and was built by IBM. The structure recovery took place after four months of maintenance.
Although historically associated with the operation of the railway network, as it is in the Dom Pedro II terminal station complex (Central do Brasil), the clock is under the responsibility of the State Secretariat for Penitentiary Administration (SEAP).
Responsible for the portfolio, secretary Fernando Veloso highlighted the importance of recovering the clock, which has been listed by the National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute (Iphan) since 2008 and, at the state level, since 1996, after presenting a series of signs of abandonment and vandalism.
“After extremely technical work by our engineering team and the building maintenance service provider, we were able to deliver this important asset to the population. The responsible team was even happier to make this delivery in the middle of Christmas”, says Veloso.
Historically, setting the wristwatch according to the time set by the Central do Brasil tower was a tradition in Rio de Janeiro. Mainly to not miss the train. However, the tower’s height allows Cariocas to control the time through it, even from miles away.
Reference: CNN Brasil
