There is an important research center, which includes the most complete library in the country specializing in botany with over 32,000 volumes.

These include Brazil’s largest botanical library and collections of dried fruits, rare Brazilian plants, and many photographs.

The painted cast-iron Fountain of the Muses was made in Derby, UK, and until 1895 was sited at Henrique Lage's villa at Largo da Lapa, as part of the landscaping by the English painter John Tydall.

These include the channel-billed toucan, rusty-margined guan, slaty-breasted wood rail and the endangered endemic white-necked hawk.

Features of interest include an old gunpowder factory, the Victoria lilies in the Lago Frei Leandro pond, the Japanese Garden, and many sculptures and fountains.