Alto do Moura

The Alto do Moura is a neighborhood in the city of Caruaru, located in Pernambuco, Agreste. It is known mainly by the activities of artisans, where most houses are ateliers. Furthermore, it is considered by UNESCO, the largest center of figurative art of the Americas.

For those who are visiting the city of Caruaru, or the nearest towns, the Alto do Moura is an excellent choice. The possibility that we can observe artwork that portrays characters and everyday situations, in the form of handmade dolls.

The art of clay dolls in Alto do Moura started by the arrival of Mestre Vitalino to the site in 1948. By giving a new perspective to the community. Through him who gave facilitating the sale of spare parts, making it a lucrative activity and livelihood for the residents of the neighborhood. And to this day it is still. That's because Vitalino began to transform everything he saw in pieces made with clay that was left of her mother's work, enjoying the simple oven to burn his first inventions. And what was just a joke has become in what is now the main image that has the Alto do Moura.

Today, the basic themes of the artisans are folk motifs and portraying the frontiersman man everyday: the “Bumba-meu-boi”, “maracatu”, “bands of pífano”, retreatants of drought, “Cangaço and cangaceiros”, especially the famous lamp and Maria Bonita, the cowboy, “the vaquejada”, marriage and burial in the countryside.

The most interesting thing we noticed and we want to put in question is precisely the fact of the pieces contain a wealth of detail and color. They are of immeasurable beauty and when we look at the price of them, are much cheaper than they should be. When we were in Alto do Moura during a technical visit, we talk to some artisans and observed how work gives to produce a piece, be it big or small. And the little value that is given to them. We found pieces 5-20 real, which in our view should cost much more. But not everyone has in mind that true importance of beauty contained in the art of these people.

Moreover, in the Alto do Moura can also find the "House Museum Master Vitalino".

In this house, it was where lived Vitalino Pereira dos Santos (1909-1963) and it was transformed into the Casa Museu Mestre Vitalino. In it are exposed its main parts, personal belongings, photographs, showing some of the history of the famous craftsman caruaruense. The house was built in 1959 and underwent some repairs to become a museum, but kept the original structure in raw brick. In the House Museum admission is free. One of Vitalino of children is the guide and also the museum administrator.