City residents are divided into Old Town, New and suburbs. In the Old Town to Custom House, the docks, the arsenal, the Exchange, the National Academy of Fine Arts, City Hall, and cultural institutions, including all theaters and almost all museums. The new city is known for the mint, a prison, the main railway station and the Invalides. The beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana, Flamengo Park, the giant statue of Christ the Redeemer on Mount Corcovado, Sugar Loaf Mountain (port. Pão de Açucar) , Maracana Stadium (port. Maracanã) — the second largest in the world football stadium (200 thousand people).Known and most visited architectural monuments of the city are the colonial churches, the monastery of San Bento, the monasteries of San Antonio and the Order of the Capuchins, and the former imperial residence of the Quinta da Boa Vista.Ipanema BeachChurch of the Virgin Lampedosa named after the island Lampedosa in the Mediterranean, where, according to legend, was the appearance of the Holy Virgin. It was erected in 1929 on the site of the dilapidated building of the XVIII century in neoclassical style under the influence of the Mexican architectural school. The main attraction of the Church of Saint Lucia, built in 1732 — a natural fountain, whose water is considered curative. And the Church of Candelaria.Despite the fact that the streets and quays of Rio de Janeiro literally drowning in tropical vegetation, the city has a botanical garden and a lot of parks. In the botanical garden, which was founded in 1808 and is one of the best in the world, has collected more than 7,000 plant species from around the world. It also houses the famous avenue of palm trees, and a collection of exotic birds and animals. Tijuca National Park, which is located in the top of Corcovado, is the largest urban forest in the world. Here you can find monkeys and exotic birds. In a suburb of the Zoological Garden.At the National Library, according to preliminary estimates, two million rare books and manuscripts. The National Museum of Fine Arts has a fine collection, which collected more than 800 paintings by various artists. At the National History Museum houses more than 278 thousand items.
