Old Gunpowder factory - Rio Botanical Garden

Some years ago, while visiting Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, I found the remains of what was in the past a Gunpowder factory. The factory was built during the Portuguese / Brazilian colonial times and remained in activity until 1831 when it was deactivated supposedly due to explosions. One of the most interesting things in this factory is the way the powder ingrediences were mixed - using a huge mechanized mortar and pestle. Unfortunately this device does not exist anymore, but are there still the remains of the holes used as "mortars" and there is actually a beautiful mockup of it that you can see below:

Take a look at the video below to see how one of these mortar and pestle works (that's incredible how you can find one of these devices still working today in Brazilian rural areas):

This is the beautiful external view of the factory:

If are or want to visit Brazil, Botanical Garden ( "Jardim Botânico" ) and the old gunpowder factory is for sure one of the places you can't miss.

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