buildings from various periods. Notable buildings along this street are the St. Catherine College, the building of the former Frohsin Society, designed by the German architect Theo Wiederspahn, the homes of the families Richter, Klein, Momberger, Snel, and Grunner, This street is recognized by the City Master Plan as an area of historical and cultural interest. The downtown area has landmarks such as the Monument to the Shoemaker, Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis Gonzaga, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Ascension, both historical constructions of the 1950s. The latter follows the Gothic style, with pure forms of the original Gothic architecture. There are also dozens of eclectic houses distributed among this historical area, but these are not officially recognized. The city also presents some interesting examples of modernism, especially residences built in the period 1950–1960. Natural Attractions Lomba Grande It is the Rural District of Novo Hamburgo, occupied an area of 156 square kilometers, making a total of two thirds of the municipal area. It is considered environmentally protected area where the wetlands of the Sinos River is very important for the preservation of the ecosystem, both fauna as flora. Lomba Grande also received the first German immigrants who settled in the Hemp Linen factory, then owned by the municipality of São Leopoldo. Today provides one of the main points of visiting the city, where the natural attractions of the neighborhood next to developments designed for leisure and tourism attracts many tourists. They are horse racing, recreational sites, resorts, environmental education center, allowing tourists to enjoy outdoor activities such as horseback riding, adventure tourism, contact with animals, recreation, swimming pools, mountain biking, among a host of other activities. Also in Lomba Grande that are harvested without pesticides the horticultural trade shows that cater to the rural producer in some properties of family farms and cooperatives produce colonial products and integrals. There are restaurants offering food fresh from the colonial neighborhood itself. The neighborhood also has many cultural attractions such as churches, cemeteries and a roadmap that includes visits to artists. Economy and society The German craftsmen eventually started to manufacture shoes and machinery on a large scale and in the 1960s began to export goods, a process that transformed the city into a magnet for internal immigrants from impoverished areas around the state and the country. This caused significant demographic growth that was not accompanied by the infrastructure needed