This 1914 building now houses the visiting exhibits of the Pinacoteca do Estado, as well as the free museum - the Memorial da Resistencia. The military dictatorship (1964-85) established the Departamento de Ordem Politico e Social (DOPS) housing political prisoners here who were interrogated and tortured on site. This dark page of Brazilian history is well documented on its walls. In 1997, the state transformed it into a museum, and the cells used as torture chambers were spruced up and painted, a move that was criticised by the authorities and ex-prisoners, but the ugly and fascinating history on display can't be whitewashed.