Memorial do Imigrante (Immigrant Memorial Museum)

Lonely Planet review

For an understanding of São Paulo's diversity, the Immigrant Memorial Museum has a collection of photos, documents and period furnishings which explores migration and national identity. The biggest attraction, however, is the building. Built in 1887, it was called the Hospedaria dos Imigrantes; it functioned as a holding place for 4,000 immigrant laborers, but at times housed up to 10,000 people.

You'll be surprised to learn just how many different nationalities have immigrated, seemingly en masse, to Brazil in the past 500 years - not to mention the scores of Africans and indigenous people who were taken unwillingly from their homes and forced to labor in colonial mines and on colonial plantations.

The building's dorm rooms are immense - you can still see the huge sliding rails that were used to bring in truckloads of people and luggage, fresh from the dock. There were guards and wardens to make sure people didn't slip away in the middle of the night - not everyone who got off the boat wanted to break their back picking coffee. Of course, a guarantee of work was the only way out of the Hospedaria. To the millions of immigrants who came to São Paulo hoping for a better life, it must have seemed more of a prison than hostel.