Due to the fact that we had mostly cooperative weather today, our group went to the Brennand Institute in Recife. There are three separate buildings: a castle museum, a gallery, and a library. Each contains art collections that focus on the time period when the Dutch had control of Recife.

This gate is at the entrance of the Institute. The lions guarding it are a symbol of the Dutch Royal Family.

Out of all the objects I saw at the museum, I think this one represents the Dutch occupation the best. They are goblets made of coconuts inlaid with silver. Under the control of Maurício de Nassau, the Dutch colonizers took the very raw and primitive Brazil and modernized it. Nassau helped the arts and culture in Brazil to flourish, similar to how the silver adds to the natural beauty of the carved coconut.

The museum also contains a HUGE collection of full size armor as you can see. There were also rooms full of swords, pikes, knives, daggers, pocketknives- basically any classical weapon you could think of from 16th and 17th centuries.