Porto Alegre (lit. "Joyous Port") on Jones Lang LaSalle's World Winning Cities.

The city

Geography
Porto Alegre is located in the subtropical area and so is called its climate. Average precipitation is high and regular throughout the year. Summer temperatures only occasionally rise above 32°C (90°F), although high levels of humidity make the season very muggy. The highest temperature ever registered was 40.7°C (105°F) in January 1943. The winter reveals mild average temperatures, contrasting to the quite changeable, and many times sudden behavioral, windy and rainy weather which also characterizes this time of the year. Usual winter temperatures range from 5 °C to 25 °C. Snow is very rare, sometimes confused with sleet. The lowest temperature ever recorded was -4 °C in July 1918. Autumns tend to be as changeable as winters, but are typically warmer. Spring, stabler akin to summer, is slightly drier than all the other seasons. Occurrence of radiation fog is common, causing several delays in early flights.

Climate
The humid subtropical climate gets its name from the high humidity experienced in this environment. Dominance of the warm and moist maritime tropical air creates summers similar to the humid tropics. Precipitation is generally evenly distributed throughout the year. Annual precipitation varies from 100 inches near the coast to 25 inches inland. Frost is generally only a problem in winter when very cold cP air masses penetrate this region, a real hazard for fruit and vegetable growers in the southeastern Brazil.

Precipitation
As of the census of 2006, the population was 1,440,939. The population density was 2.905,3 hab./km².


Demographics
According to the 2005 PNAD census, the racial makeup of Porto Alegre was: As the Germans, Italians were also first sent to rural communities, mainly in the Serra Gaúcha region. After some decades, many of them started to migrate to other parts of Rio Grande do Sul, including Porto Alegre.
Minoritary communities of immigrants, such as Eastern Europeans from Poland and Ukraine; Arabs from Lebanon and Syria; Asians from Japan and Jews also made Porto Alegre their home.

Ethnic groups
Vehicles: 563.255(Jun/2006); Daily newspapers: 5 (Jul/2006); Established: 03/26/1772.

Curiosity
The gaucho capital is at a privileged location. Placed at a strategic point within Mercosur, Porto Alegre is the geographical center of major routes of the Southern Cone, and it's located mid-way between Buenos Aires and Montevideo, as well as São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Porto Alegre is also an important business center and a gateway to major tourist attractions in the region.
According to the IBGE/2004, the PIB (GNP) of Porto Alegre was R$ 15,944,201,000 and its PIB per capita is R$ 11,257. According to the English consultancy firm Jones Lang LaSalle (2004), Porto Alegre is placed second in rural output and industrialization among all Brazilian cities. Due to its geographical location, the city is considered the capital of the South American Common Market.

Economy
Portuguese is the official language of schools, but English and Spanish are part of the official high school curriculum.

Education

Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS);
Universidade Estadual do Rio Grande do Sul (UERGS);
Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUC-RS);
Fundação Faculdade Federal de Ciências Médicas de Porto Alegre (FFFCMPA);
Faculdades Riograndenses (FARGS);
FAPA;
and many others. Colleges and universities
The gastronomic features have the same attention: there are countless options – but the favorite dish will always be the famous "gaucho" barbecue, accompanied by the inseparable chimarrão gourd. Whoever strolls along Porto Alegre's streets is surprised with its perennial vegetation, hills, and ponds. What is also dazzling is the preservation condition of its historic buildings, which shelter memories and culture. But what really charms visitors is the surprisingly harmonious match of its welcoming manner of an interior town with the fast hustle and bustle of a large urban center, its architecture as the icon of modernity, and the cultural heterogeneity.

Culture
Museum of Art of Rio Grande do Sul – MARGS
With a predominantly neoclassic style, the building was designed by German architect Theo Wiederspahn. Originally it was the headquarters of the Fiscal Surveillance Agency of the Federal Revenue Office. Nowadays, it hosts the largest collection of works in Rio Grande do Sul, many of which were created by renowned local, national, and foreign artists. The internal spaces are illuminated through "vitreauxes" (artistic window glasses) embellishing the major hall ceiling. The building became a historic landmark by the National Historic Site Office in 1983 and it is at Alfândega Plaza, Downtown. You may visit it from Tuesday to Sunday, from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Museum Júlio de Castilhos
Created in 1903, being the oldest museum in the state. Its collection comprises thousands of pieces related to the local history, from Indian relics to objects and iconography about the War of Tatters and the War of the Triple Alliance, including an important section showing fine scupltures from the Jesuitic Reductions.
Museum Joaquim José Felizardo
An important museum with a large collection of archaeological artifacts and fotographies of Porto Alegre's old times. Its historical building, dating from 1845-55, is one of the few intact relics of colonial architecture inside the modern urban environment.
Rio Grande do Sul Memorial
Showing a huge collection of documents, maps, objects, prints and other items related to the state's history. Its building, designed by Theodor Wiederspahn, is one of the finest exemples of eclectic architecture in the city.

Museums
It is also home to such famous football clubs as Grêmio and Internacional.

Sport
Bookfair It gathers exhibition and book sales, an autograph afternoon, lectures, literary parties, and even plastic arts shows. It is held always on the second fortnight of November, at Praça da Alfândega.
Farroupilha Week Musical and dancing shows from the Pampas region, typical foods, and a traditionalist parade. This event always takes place from September 13th to 20th.
Expointer An 8-day cattle-raising and agribusiness fair. It is always held between August and September, in the municipality of Esteio, 24 km away from Porto Alegre.
Latin American Handicraft Fair It gathers over 13 countries in exhibitions throughout the year. Crafty pieces and antiques are exhibited in shows on Saturdays, at 5ª Avenida Center and, on Sundays, at "Brique da Redenção" (Handicraft Fair).

Events

Infrastructure
With 37.6 thousand square meters of constructed area and four levels, the passenger terminal at Salgado Filho International Airport can receive 28 large airplanes simultaneously. The terminal has 32 check-in counters, ten boarding bridges, nine elevators and ten escalators. It has a totally automated aircraft movement control center and the main spaces are air conditioned. The apron, surfaced with prestressed concrete, can serve jumbo jets like the Boeing 747-400. The garage structure has eight levels, 44 thousand square meters and 1,440 parking spaces. Another terminal, with 15 thousand square meters and capacity for 1.5 million passengers a year, serves general, executive and third-tier aviation (conventional piston-engine and turboprop planes). Porto Alegre Airport was the first one administered by Infraero to have integrated check-in. This service offers flexibility in use of terminal facilities and installations, enabling carriers to access their own data centers via shared-use computers from any check-in counter position. This makes it much easier to allocate counter space according to demand fluctuations, making for less idle space. The Aeroshopping area – a center for commerce and leisure – operates 24 hours a day with shops, services, a food court, along with a triplex cinema, the first to be established at a Brazilian airport. Salgado Filho International Airport also has an air cargo terminal, built in 1974, with 9,500 thousand square meters of area and capacity to handle 1,500 tons of export cargo and 900 tons of imports each month. The average daily movement (arrivals and departures) is 174 aircraft, flying scheduled routes connecting Porto Alegre directly or indirectly to all the country's other major cities, as well as smaller cities in the interior of the states of the South Region and São Paulo. There are also international flights with direct connections to cities of the Southern Cone.

International Airport
The Port of Porto Alegre is situated in the Eastern margin of lake Guaíba. Its geographical position enables a permanent traffic between Porto Alegre and Buenos Aires, transporting steel-industry products and mainly agricultural produce.

Port
The capital city of the "gauchos" is connected to BR-290 and BR-116 federal highways, thus enabling the link with other Brazilian States as well as with Uruguay and Argentina.

Highways

Tourism
Porto Alegre is a huge outdoor architectonic museum. The different styles are concentrated especially downtown, recording on the buildings the influences which marked the capital city's golden time. Therefore, walking across the narrow streets of the historical center, one may see buildings with baroque characteristics – as the "Casa da Junta" – sharing the space with the modern architecture of Farroupilha Palace – a place that today hosts the State Legislative Assembly.

Historic Buildings
Ornamented in neoclassic style, its construction was started in 1898. Across the City Hall is the "Fonte Talavera de La Reina", a gift from that Spanish colony in 1935, during the celebration of the centennial of the Farroupilha Revolution. The sculptures embellishing the façade stand for Economy, Education, and Politics. It became a historic site in 1979. The city's center milestone is there. The city hall lies at Praça Montevidéu, 10, Downtown.

Porto Alegre City Hall – "Paço dos Açorianos" (The Palace of the Azoreans)
Located along the Glênio Peres Square, it is one of the most traditional bar-draft beer-restaurants in the city, where the last "lambe-lambe" photographs of the region work. ["Lambe-lambes" are photographers who develop pictures outdoor using the oldest method known.] In the Bavarian style, with art nouveau traits, the centenary Chalet was built up on a demountable steel structure, keeping its original chandeliers and tiles even nowadays. It is located at XV de Novembro Plaza, Downtown.

Chalet of the XV de Novembro Plaza
It was inaugurated in 1869, but the second floor was only completed in the year 1913. Between 1995 and 1996 it went through a large refurbishment, which modified its internal structure and renovated its external part. Its more than one hundred stores host spices and typical products of the gaucho culture. Restaurants, cafeterias, and ice cream shops supplement the offer of goods and services. It became a historic landmark in 1979. It lies at Glênio Peres Square, Downtown – XV de Novembro Plaza.

Central Public Market
Built in the beginning of the century, the building is featured by the influence of Germanic baroque architecture. Bronze-domed asymmetric towers recall the helmets worn by the Prussian army. At the center of the building is Atlas, a Greek mythology character who was convicted to bear the world upon his shoulders. A female figure representing the old continent and the figure of an adolescent boy, simulating the new continent, comprise the ensemble. It became a historic landmark by the National Historic Site Office in 1981 and it is at Alfândega Plaza, Downtown.

Post and Telegraph Offices
With a predominantly neoclassic style, the building was designed by German architect Theo Wiederspahn. Originally it was the headquarters of the Fiscal Surveillance Agency of the Federal Revenue Office. Nowadays, it hosts the largest collection of works in Rio Grande do Sul, many of which were created by renowned local, national, and foreign artists. The internal spaces are illuminated through "vitreauxes" (artistic window glasses) embellishing the major hall ceiling. The building became a historic landmark by the National Historic Site Office in 1983 and it is at Alfândega Plaza, Downtown. You may visit it from Tuesday to Sunday, from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Museum of Art of Rio Grande do Sul – MARGS
The seat of State Government, its construction begun in 1896 after a project by Affonso Hebert, but soon the plan was changed and another project was designed by Maurice Gras, which was erected from 1909 on, and completed only towards the 70's. It shows a blend of baroque and neoclassical features inspired after the french palace Petit Trianon, with rich inner decorations and furniture, and a big garden behind the main building.

Piratini Palace
The monuments of the gaucho capital city may be seen in several points throughout the city. They are exhibited in public spaces, as the Júlio de Castilhos Monument, at Praça da Matriz (Main Church Square), embellishing the façade of public buildings, as the collection of statues adorning the Old City Hall, at Praça Montevidéu. Porto Alegre also has a series of modern works, such as the Monument to the Azoreans, located across the "Ponte de Pedra" (Stone Bridge).

Monuments
Porto Alegre offers large spaces for shows, as the "Anfiteatro Pôr-do-Sol" (Sunset Amphitheater) on the shores of Guaíba Lake, or areas for qualified exhibitions, as the rooms of Mário Quintana House of Culture and the Gasholder Plant.

Cultural Centers
Inaugurated in 1922, it hosts artistic-cultural and political manifestations. The paving recovers the drawing existing in front of the City Hall building in the 30's, similar to a Persian carpet comprised by gray basalt flagstones and Portuguese black, white, and pink stones. The J.G. Brill model Streetcar, used in that very decade, is there.

Glênio Peres Square
Guaíba Lake receives water from Jacuí, Caí, Sinos, and Gravataí Rivers. On the islands, which are the result of this water confluence, the "Delta do Jacuí" (Jacuí Delta) State Park was created in 1976. The archipelago is comprised by 28 islands, most of which are not inhabited. There, 329 vegetal specimens, 108 kinds of birds and over 20 species of fish thrive, in addition to hundreds of other animals. Some islands are connected to the continent by the Regis Bittencourt Crossing – the well-known "Ponte do Guaíba" (Guaíba Bridge). Grande dos Marinheiros, Pavão, Flores, and Pintada islands shelter a 15-thousand people population. The islanders live on waste recycling and fishing, and also produce handicraft.

Arquipélago (Archipelago)
Ilha da Pintada is part of the group of islands comprising the Delta do Jacuí State Park. Currently, crafty fishing is the most representative economic activity in the place. Its population descends from Azorean immigrants.

Ilha da Pintada (Pintada Island)
The sunset, as seen from the Guaíba Lake, blankets the city with golden lights. Every day the most diverse viewers wait for the twilight show along its 72 km shore.

Guaíba
A ring of granitic hills aged 730 million years enframes Porto Alegre, occupying 65% of the city area. The hills are part of the Southern Rio Grande Shield - a triangular platform 48 thousand sq. km long, originated from rocks which melted under intense pressure and heat inside the Earth, and then emerged, rising as high as the mountains. Nowadays, spalled and cracked by the erosion of million of years, small round-topped hills are formed and are predominant in the gaucho capital landscape.

Morros (Hills)
It is the city's highest peak. Over half of its extension – about one thousand hectares – is owned by the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. At its 311 meters high are native forests and fields, waterfalls, swamps, marshes, lakes, brooks, and cascades. A unique landscape.

Morro Santana (Santana Hill)
It is located between Tristeza, Camaquá, and Ipanema districts. From the top of its 143 meters, with an over 200-degree panoramic view, one can see the Guaíba Lake, Ipanema Beach, Downtown Porto Alegre, and a few hills. A share of this Hill lines off the Osso Hill Natural Park, which must soon be expanded. The park has a head office with an auditorium for educational activities, forester service, and an environmental educational program.

Morro do Osso (Osso Hill)
It lies between Restinga and Lami districts. From its 289 meters high, it is possible to see part of the city's Southern Zone, Lami Beach, and Itapuã Lighthouse. With over one thousand hectares, it has several clean and preserved stream fountains. There you can find four basic vegetal formations: clean field, with tripping vegetation; dirty field, with clumps of shrub and semi-shrubby vegetation; the gallery forest, which flows across the brooks; and pluvial subtropical wood or forest. In addition to campo flickers, partridges, "sabiás", southern house wrens, and sparrow hawks, other animals in danger of extinction, as auburn monkeys, live in this hill.

Morro São Pedro (São Pedro Hill)
Located at Santa Teresa District, this hill is 148 m above sea level, providing a panoramic view of the shores of Guaíba Lake along the "Marinha do Brasil" and Maurício Sirotsky Sobrinho (Harmonia) parks. From Ruy Ramos belvedere, at the hilltop, it is also possible to see some of the archipelago islands, the "Usina do Gasômetro" (Gasholder Plant), and Downtown Porto Alegre. Santa Teresa is known for sheltering several TV and radio stations, being this the reason why the population nicknamed it as "TV Hill".

Morro Santa Teresa (Santa Teresa Hill)
With an area of approximately 43 hectares, the Botanical Garden is in the district named for it, between Cristiano Fischer Avenue and Salvador França Avenue. It has scientific collections with over two thousand issues, 725 vegetal species, spread along the different open areas in the park. It also has a Germplasm Bank, a Seed Bank and a Sapling Terrarium, in addition to developing environmental educational activities. The Natural Sciences Museum is headquartered at the Garden and preserves flora and fauna species from the State Natural Patrimony.

Botanical Garden
It is located at Farroupilha District. Its 370 thousand sq. meters of extension hosts 45 copper and marble monuments, a luminous fountain and the "O Expedicionário" (The Expeditionary) monument, representing a double Triumph Arch with relief sculptures which are a homage to Brazilian soldiers who fought in Italy during the World War II. It also hosts a mini-zoo, an amusement park for children, a solar retreat, a market, soccer and bowl fields, cycleways, athletic sports track, gymnastics equipment, and an auditorium for 4,500 people. On Sundays, the Brique da Redenção Fair takes place.

Farroupilha Park (Redenção)
Located at Cidade Baixa District, it has 300 thousand sq. meters, hosting in its area a replica of a traditional gaucho farm - the Harmonia Ranch -, designed to maintain and practice the regionalist culture. It also has an aeromodelling track, a nautimodelling tank, children's sites, soccer and bowl fields, volleyball courts, and over 100 barbecue grills available in different areas of the park.

Maurício Sirotsky Sobrinho Park (Harmonia Park)
Located on RS-040 highway, at about km 02, this park is 17 km away from Downtown Porto Alegre. It has 11.8 km², 240 hectares of which are designed to leisure and 940 hectares reserved to permanent preservation. Its name is a homage to scientist Augustin François César Prouvençal de Saint-Hilaire, an internationally renowned French traveler and naturalist who lived in Brazil for many years. The park infrastructure has soccer fields, bowl fields, volleyball courts and indoor soccer fields, aeromodelling and skating tracks, a playground and approximately 100 barbecue grills.

Saint Hilaire Park
Officially created in 1984, the park has a total area of 182,383 sq. meters. In addition, it has an ecologic reserve of approximately 6 hectares, inhabited by many flora and fauna species. The Southern Wing of the park has a playground and three volleyball courts; in the central part are the park administration office, soccer and bowl fields, volleyball courts, soccer seven fields and multipurpose courts and fields. Mascarenhas de Moraes Park is at Humaitá District.

Chico Mendes Park
It occupies an area of 715 thousand sq. meters at Praia de Belas District. From there one can admire the waters of Guaíba Lake. Sportspeople enjoy the park very much due to its infrastructure characteristics – it has four tennis courts, five multipurpose courts, a soccer field, six indoor soccer fields, an athletic sports track, a skating track, a skateboard track, nine sand soccer fields, a mourning hall and gymnastics equipment. Bicycle and quadricycle rental is also available. It also has a playground and a small amusement park. Out of its total area, 11 hectares represent forests and grass-covered spaces where there are many native trees and exotic species.

Parque Marinha do Brasil (The Brazilian Navy's Park)
It has 115 thousand sq. meters and offers sports infrastructure with a soccer field, tennis court, bowl field, gymnastics equipment, skating track, multipurpose courts, and athletic sports tracks. The Park administrative head offices were built in the shape of an artificial windmill debouching as a small cascade. Turtles, geese, drakes, and fish live at the site. The avifauna becomes more abundant in the fruiting period of trees and shrubs of the park. There is also a library for children, containing one thousand books, especially devoted to ecologic literature. The Park lies at Moinhos de Vento District.

Park)
The city has a Biological Reserve 170 hectares long within its territorial limits. Lami Biological Reserve shelters a meteorological station and a terrarium of native saplings. The diverse atmospheres enable growing over 300 vegetal species and a higher number of animal species; the swamps and reeds are home to many aquatic organisms.

Lami Biological Reserve
The Sister Cities of Porto Alegre are:

- Suzhou, People's Republic of China
- Kanazawa (Ishikawa, Japan)
- Saint Petersburg, Russia
- Austin, Texas, United States of America Sister Cities

Adriana Calcanhotto, singer and instrumentist
Alex Klein, oboist
Anderson, football player with Manchester United
Daiane dos Santos, gymnast
Diogo Rincón, soccer player with Dynamo Kyiv
Elis Regina, singer
Ernesto Geisel, military general and dictator
Humberto Gessinger, musician, singer and songwriter
Isaac Karabtchevsky, conductor
Jorge Furtado, film writer and director
Luís Carlos Prestes, Communist leader
Luis Fernando Verissimo, writer
Mario Quintana, poet
Moacyr Scliar, writer and physician
Ronaldinho Gaúcho, soccer player with Barcelona
Emerson Thome, former Sheffield Wednesday soccer player. Districts
Brique da Redenção (Flea Market)
Usina do Gasômetro (literally Gasometer Plant)
Araújo Viana Auditorium
Laçador Statue
Nossa Sra. das Dores Church
Porto Alegre LDS Temple
Lutheran Church in Porto Alegre
Public library of Rio Grande do Sul, in Porto Alegre
Sunset over Porto Alegre
panoramic view of Porto Alegre
Redemption Park in Porto Alegre