FaveladoEsqueleto

The land that today houses the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (Uerj), in the Maracanã neighborhood, was meant to become the Hospital das Clínicas of the Universidade do Brasil. But construction was abandoned in the 1930s, leaving behind only the skeleton of one of the buildings. The unfinished building, along with the rest of the land, was gradually occupied, giving rise to what would become the Favela do Esqueleto.

Image description: This is a black-and-white photograph of a favela. On the left, we see shacks with tiled roofs and clotheslines hung with clothes. In the center, people are walking and talking. On the right, there are more shacks and a person is sitting on a bench. In the background, a man is sitting in a closed doorway.

It gained even more size during the construction of the Maracanã stadium, right next door, inaugurated in 1950. The removal of the Favela do Esqueleto was a consequence of the removal policy that the state of Guanabara (under the command of Carlos Lacerda), in line with the Military Government, carried out during the 1960s, forcibly transferring favela residents from the city's central regions to distant housing complexes. In the case of the Favela do Esqueleto, most of its residents were removed to Vila Kennedy, in Bangu.

Image description: This is a black-and-white photograph of a favela. On the left side, we see a brick structure with a sloped roof. In front, there is an open area with a lot of scattered trash. In the center, several small wooden houses are clustered together, with flat roofs and simple walls. On the right, there are elevated structures on wooden posts, possibly stalls or small shops. In the background, we see a building under construction with a metal frame. There are many electrical cables hanging from the wooden and iron posts. The landscape in the background features a distant mountain under a clear sky.