Ilha Fiscal

Ilha Fiscal, or Fiscal Island, is an island in Guanabara Bay, bordering the historic city center of Rio de Janeiro, in southeastern Brazil.

Originally named by Europeans as Rat Island, its current name comes from the fact that the customs department has been stationed there before Guarda Fiscal, serving the port of the then-capital of the Empire during the nineteenth century. The customs offices were housed at a Neo-Gothic palace built under Pedro II, which occupies most of the island. The island became famous as the site of the famous Fiscal Island Ball, the last royal ball of the Empire before the coup d'état that proclaimed the Republic in November 1889.