Bem Vindo! Welcome to Sao Luis!

Since being established, São Luís (Saint-Louis) has had a long multicultural history. Founded in 1612 by a Frenchman, Daniel de la Touche, and proclaimed capital of Western France under Louis XIV, the city was quickly conquered by the Dutch, before falling under the dominion of the Portuguese.

Through the centuries, successive mixing of African, Native Indian and European populations give Sao Luis a contemporary feel and a most important historical and cultural heritage. In 1997, UNESCO declared the city World Heritage Listed.

But how should São Luís be classified? Are we in the North or the Northeast of Brazil ? Is the environment tropical, barren, marine or all three, this being in effect, quite impossible?! Nevertheless, São Luís exhibits all these three aspects.

An entanglement of small narrow streets that sometimes end in an unexpected square or fountain of the era, decorateThe historical center of São Luís and its 3.000 constructions of the era, partly rebuilt, offer a beautiful voyage back in time. It is a first class trip, if you consider the fantastic homogeneity of works performed by painters, sculptors and other architects who, for centuries, have contributed to the beauty of the city. Colorful façades, impressive constructions with high windows, and with glazed tiles. São Luís has preserved its monuments, its diverse influences and thus, undeniably, its colonial seal.
As for the local population, they are not European, but Brazilian, and consequently strongly Mestizo. The city is especially lively in the evening. Different groups gather in the streets, dancing, playing music.

The local legend says : he who falls asleep in São Luís, wakes up as a poet.