Faculdade de Medicina da Bahia (Faculty of Medicine - FAMEB), Salvador

Smack in the heart of Salvador’s historic center, the Jesus Square, right near Pillory Square, serves up a crash course in the city’s colonial past. Here, rubbing shoulders with the Sé Cathedral, sits a grand, faded pink building. Sharing the square with the Cathedral, the Church of Saint Peter, and the Church of Saint Dominic, it’s also just a stone’s throw from the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary-because in this part of town, history is never far away.

But this isn’t just another old building-this sprawling pink giant is a temple of medical knowledge and Brazilian science. Before the Jesuits got their marching orders from Portugal and its colonies, this spot housed the College of the Society of Jesus. It later got a military makeover, becoming the Royal Military Hospital of Bahia. Then, on February 18, 1808, by Royal Decree, it was reborn as the School of Surgery of Bahia-the first-ever medical school in Brazil. From there, it went through an identity crisis: the Medical-Surgical Academy of Bahia in 1816, the School of Medicine of Bahia in 1832, the School of Medicine and Pharmacy of Bahia in 1891, back to just the School of Medicine of Bahia in 1901, before finally settling into the University of Bahia in 1946. By 1965, it had welcomed parts of the Federal University of Bahia’s School of Medicine. Talk about a long resume.

Architecturally, it’s got all the grandeur you’d expect from a place that takes itself seriously. Rebuilt after a fire in 1905, it borrows from classical temples with a parade of Doric and Ionic columns, while its rotunda amphitheater channels Christian church apses. Inside, the furniture, ornaments, and artifacts whisper tales of its former glory as Brazil’s undisputed cradle of medicine.

But what really cements its legendary status? The way it looms large in Salvador’s imagination and in the minds of Brazilian scientists. This isn’t just a pretty relic-it’s a national institution, the Memorial of Medicine in Brazil. Not Bahia. Not Salvador. Brazil. That’s how deep its roots run.