Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia

Housed in the former Colégio dos Jesuítas, a massive 18th-century stone building on the waterfront, the Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia da Universidade Federal do Paraná is the single best reason to spend a day in Paranaguá. The collection covers the indigenous peoples of the southern Brazilian coast — sambaqui (shell mound) finds, ceramic vessels, ceremonial objects from the Tupi-Guarani and Carijó peoples — alongside ethnographic material from across Brazil and a small section on the rural and Afro-Brazilian cultures of the Paraná coast.

The exhibits are arranged thematically across two floors and a former chapel. Labels are in Portuguese only but the objects speak for themselves. Allow an hour. The museum sits on Rua XV de Novembro at the corner with the waterfront promenade; entry is inexpensive and closed on Mondays.

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The building itself is the most impressive exhibit. Construction began in 1755 as a Jesuit college, but when the Marquis of Pombal expelled the order from Portuguese territory in 1759 the work stopped and the unfinished walls stood open to the rain for decades. Slaves later worked in its lower floors after it became a customs house. The thick stone walls now keep the indigenous artefacts inside at the steady cool temperature that suits them.

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