Sunday afternoon at São Lourenço Park - the nature

Visiting the parks of Curitiba is part of the routine of Curitiba. Curitiba has 26 parks and approximately 81 million square meters of preserved green area. There are 55m ² of green area per capita, three times the level recommended by World Health Organization, of 16m ². In Brazil, it is the town where the Atlantic Forest is better preserved.

The São Lourenço Park was opened in 1972 with 204 000 m². It was created after a river flood in 1970, which caused the disruption of a dam, paralyzing a tannery and a glue factory.

Sunday afternoon at São Lourenço Park - Children

The great protagonists of São Lourenço Park are the children. Most people who frequent this park, make it especially for their children, who occupy all spaces of the park: the playground, the ball bearings track or the huge lawn of the park that has more than 200 thousand square meters of area. In a highly urbanized city like Curitiba, the city parks account for the vast majority of the population, the only alternative to have a minimal contact with nature and space.

Sunday afternoon at São Lourenço Park - Skates and Ball Bearings Boards

Yesterday late afternoon, we went to São Lourenço Park. It was difficult to park, but it was quite nice. Many children playing everywhere, especially on the playground, lots of people walking, playing ball and dating.

The track stands for skateboarding and ball bearings were quite busy, with people of all ages coming down at full speed.

Northeast view of Curitiba from the observatory

In this direction, we can observe the following neighborhoods: Ahu, Bom retiro, Centro Cívico and São Lourenço.

The Ahu is a neighborhood with about 10mil people. In it are located the ruins of the Ahu Penitentiary. The building, built in 1896, housed the judicial hospice since 1903. In January 1909, it became a prison to replace the old jail. In an agreement signed in early 2009 by the governor of Paraná, Roberto Requião and President of the Court, Judge Carlos Augusto Hoffman, was formalized the purchase of this land, where a park and the future Judicial Center will be built.

The name of the Bom Retiro disctrict, was originated in a sanatorium, opened in 1946, on the ground donated by Lins de Vasconcelos. The Bom Retiro sanatorium was transferred to Nilo Peçanha street, its address until today, the main street of the district. Around these entities, the neighborhood began to expand significantly in population and development.

The Centro Cívico district began to emerge during the '40s, when the French urban planner Alfred Agache, proposed a new Urban Plan of Curitiba, creating a Civic Center. Agache Plan envisaged the Civic Center as "a square of special features of buildings to senior State government agencies”. In 1951, its construction has begun. In 1953, the then governor of Paraná, Bento Munhoz da Rocha Neto, inaugurated the Civic Center and in 1968, the district officially received its current name.

The first people that arrived in the region where today is located in the district of São Lourenço, were the Portuguese. The name came in honor of the Catholic saint, San Lorenzo de Huesca. Due to the constant flooding that occurred in the region, it was inaugurated in 1972 the São Lourenço Park, which offers entertainment to the people and a center of creativity and culture. In this district, besides the São Lourenço park, we can find the Santa Maria school, the Wire Opera House and the Paulo Leminski Quarry.