The Brazilian architecture history and the preservation of cultural heritage

Abstract

The following paper approaches the emergence of a preservationist conscience in Brazil from a non- exploited point of view: the identification of the first, incipient studies about Brazilian colonial architecture, considered here as one of the earliest signs of concern about the preservation of our cultural heritage. From such an approach, the work of the French painter Jean Baptiste Debret - settled in Brazil as part of the 'French Artistic Mission' of 1816 - stands out as a reference for the first initiatives aiming at the development of a history of Brazilian architecture of an operational kind, related to the Neocolonial tendency of the 1920's. Two main radiating centers can be identified: one in São Paulo, based on the ideas of the Portuguese engineer Ricardo Severo; and one in Rio de Janeiro, grouped around José Mariano Filho. Besides corraborating the Eurocentrism typical of the Brazilian culture at the time, the study has pointed out other aspects that deserve further research, such as: the involvement of some of the most important members of the modernist group with Neocolonial initiatives; the short mandate of José Mariano Filho as Director of the National School of Fine Arts in Rio de Janeiro; and the instigating role played by the modernist poet Manuel Bandeira in the last years of the decade of 1920.