Start with two adjoining Colonial dwellings (respectively 17th and 18th century) located right in the “Pelourinho”, the historical quarter of Salvador da Bahia.
Add an exceptional host (Bruno Guinard: part anthropologist, part historian, part botanist and above all impassioned by Latin American culture,
arts and traditions), a pinch of architecture, a touch of decoration, a large helping of patience and let it simmer for 2 years to get : the Villa Bahia.
Renovation
- 2 architects, a structural engineer, a year of work involving team of craftsmen of almost 70 people.
- 50 tonnes of rubble removed from the buildings and borne off in small bags, at night (World Heritage oblige…)
- An acoustics specialist responsible for soundproofing the hotel while keeping the period doors, windows and woof floors in place.
- Work in close collaboration with the town’s historical monuments service.
- The presence of an archaeologist responsible for the inventory of all historical pieces and objects found on the worksite.
- Restoration of banhos, including a 17th-century one decorated with azulejos tiles near the swimming pool. These baths are typical features of the houses built at the start of the colonisation by the Cristãos Novos (new Christians), in reality Jews who had been forcibly converted in Portugal and formed the majority of the first contingent of colonists to arrive from Europe. In the Jewish tradition these baths, called micvê, were used for purification purposes and were fed by rainwater.
