PalácioMonroe

Image description: This is a historic black-and-white photograph of a majestic palace. On the left side, we see a column with a decorative dome. In the center, the main building displays neoclassical architecture with ornamental details and a curved roof. On the right, there is a tower with a dome and finely worked architectural elements. In front of the palace, there are green trees and an old bus with several people inside. The bus is in the foreground, while the palace occupies the background of the image.

It's impossible to sum up the history of the Palácio Monroe in a few lines. Its existence was, in many respects, extraordinary. Starting with its birth. Its genesis, after all, was the imposing and sophisticated steel structure that Brazil presented at the 1904 World's Fair in Saint Louis, Missouri, in the United States, which won the World's Architecture Prize. It was the first time a Brazilian architectural work had received international recognition of such magnitude.

Image description: The image is a black-and-white engraving of a palace. On the left side, we see a structure with columns and a curved roof. In the center, the main building is majestic, with elaborate architectural details, including round windows and a pointed roof. On the right, there is a tower with a small roof. At the top of the palace, a flag flutters. The text in the image reads "Exposição Universal de S. Luiz" and "O Pavilhão do Brasil".

This metal structure was completely disassembled and brought to Rio de Janeiro, piece by piece. The Palácio de São Luiz, as it was called, was then reassembled at the end of Avenida Central, today's Avenida Rio Branco, the most prestigious spot in the city at the time. Its inauguration coincided with the opening of the 3rd Pan-American Conference in 1906, for which it served as headquarters. Its splendor and beauty made it the center of attention. At Joaquim Nabuco's suggestion, its name was changed to Palácio Monroe, in tribute to the American president James Monroe. Its eclectic-style façade formed an architectural ensemble with the Teatro Municipal, the Biblioteca Nacional, and the Escola de Belas Artes (today the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes), making up the quadrilateral of Cinelândia.

In the decades that followed, the Palácio Monroe was the stage for some of the country's most important seats of power. It housed the Chamber of Deputies, the Federal Senate, and the Superior Electoral Court. It served as a convention center, a hall for official celebrations, and a venue for the wakes of prominent figures of the time. It also established itself as one of Rio de Janeiro's main postcard icons, appearing on porcelain, jewelry boxes, inkwells, souvenirs, and stationery. It also featured on the 200 réis banknote, issued in 1919.

Image description: This image is a colored postcard of Rio de Janeiro, showing the Palácio Monroe. On the left side, there is a large three-armed lamppost with a decorative pedestal. In the center, a tall, square-shaped obelisk is positioned in front of the palace. The Palácio Monroe, with its neoclassical architecture, occupies the center of the image, standing out for its golden dome and ornamental details. On the right, there is another lamppost similar to the first one, but smaller. In the background, we see a green area with trees and a simpler building further back. The sky is blue with some white clouds.

During the Brazilian dictatorship, Palácio Monroe began to be the target of criticism. It was, after all, a time when the pursuit of the idea of progress, with its modernizing fervor, could impose itself — generally in an authoritarian manner, as was standard practice under military governments — over historical and artistic values. Those in favor of its destruction claimed that the building got in the way of traffic and went against the aesthetic conventions of the time. Legend has it that President Ernesto Geisel himself was in favor of demolishing Palácio Monroe, which indeed happened in 1976, to the dismay of part of the population, in an act that is seen by many historians and urban planners as a crime against historical and artistic heritage and against the affective memory of Rio's residents.

Image description: The image is a black-and-white photograph. In the foreground, there is a bust of Getúlio Vargas, positioned centrally. In the background stands a building in ruins, with debris scattered across the area. To the left, there is a large tree and a street lamp. The spatial arrangement goes from foreground to background, left to right.

Today, the site is occupied by a fountain that rarely spouts water and by an underground parking lot run by a private company. Those who pass by see no trace of the palace that was once the stage for so many political events. Its history, however, has been revived through narratives such as the documentary Crônica da demolição, written and directed by Eduardo Ades.