The Rio de Modernidades cultural walk begins its journey at the Palácio Gustavo Capanema Building, the founding landmark of modern architecture in Brazil. Designed between 1936 and 1945 by a team led by Lúcio Costa, with Le Corbusier serving as consultant, the building revolutionized the national aesthetic by introducing the use of pilotis, brise-soleil, and garden terraces.
Image description: The image is a family-tree-style diagram representing "Major massacres in the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro." The spatial layout runs from left to right, starting with dates from the early 1990s through the late 2020s. The blue boxes contain the names of the massacres, such as "Salgueiro Massacre," "Jacarezinho Massacre," and "Maré Massacre." Lines connect these boxes, indicating the relationships between the massacres.The route begins at this monument to reveal how Rio de Janeiro redesigned its identity in place of the old colonial birthplace of Morro do Castelo, turning the material "erasure" of the past into a modern, industrial Brazil. The walk's central theme explores distinct temporalities of urban modernities, showing that the city's transformations were not linear, but rather a process of successive layers. The route crosses the Esplanada do Castelo, where the "emptiness" left by the leveling of the hill served as a blank slate for different visions of the future, from Alfred Agache's plan to the functionalist rationalism of the Roberto brothers in the Plínio de Cantanhede Building and the ABI. Along this stretch, modernity engages in dialogue with the resilience of the Santa Luzia Church, a rare colonial-era survivor.
Image description: This is an old black-and-white photograph of a theater under construction. On the left side, we see smaller buildings and a street with a few people walking. In the center, the main theater is being erected with wooden structures and tiles covering parts of the building. On the right, there is a large metal support structure. At the top of the theater, two large domes are visible, each with an ornamental detail in the center.Augusto Malta. Municipal Theater under construction, 1907. Instituto Moreira Salles.
As the group moves on to Cinelândia, it plunges into the carioca Belle Époque's "Tropical Paris." In this hub of eclectic prominence, the Municipal Theatre and the National Library represent the pinnacle of luxury and European culture imported through the Pereira Passos reform. The square works as a point of temporal inflection, where the Avenida Central Obelisk marks the modernization of the early Republic, while the old movie theaters narrate the transformation of leisure habits and sociability in the 20th century. The walk continues, exploring the diplomatic and cosmopolitan modernity of the postwar era, visible at the United States Consulate, an example of the international style completed in 1952. The route highlights the ABL headquarters and the intellectual bohemia of Casa Villarino, opened in 1953 and immortalized as the "birthplace of Bossa Nova." These landmarks reveal how Rio retained its cultural capital status even after losing political centrality, weaving music, literature, and diplomacy into a narrative of avant-garde spirit.
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.Palácio Monroe. Augusto Malta, c.1920. Light Collection
In its final phase, the itinerary shifts from the density of the buildings toward the visual openness of Praça Mahatma Gandhi, where the absence of the Palácio Monroe makes itself felt.
This shift from the traditional street grid to the openness of the waterfront allows the public to perceive Rio as a living organism, capable of reconciling memories of the past with new possibilities for social interaction. The narrative focuses on the transition between the administrative center and the leisure space that redesigned the face of the city.
Image description: This is a photograph of a modernist building. On the left side, we see geometric structures with triangular and rectangular shapes, built in concrete. In the center, there is a large opening that appears to be an entrance or window. On the right, there is a metal column with a lighting fixture. In the background, we see plants and a partly cloudy sky. The image is in black and white.Image taken from https://www.archdaily.com.br/br/tag/mam-rj The closing takes place at the Museu de Arte Moderna (MAM Rio), a masterpiece by Affonso Eduardo Reidy supported by monumental "V"-shaped pilotis. The full integration between the reinforced concrete and Roberto Burle Marx's organically shaped gardens sums up the proposal of Rio de Modernidades: celebrating a metropolis that knew how to turn spaces and times into opportunities for aesthetic innovation. At the end, at MAM Rio, participants contemplate the definitive fusion between modernist architecture and the landscape of Guanabara Bay, consolidating the reading of the multiple eras that define Rio.
Be sure to also check out: # The Circuito Centro-Cinelândia, from the Aqui tem Memória project. # The Galeria Rio Desaparecido, from the Museu Virtual project. # Our podcast about the history of Palácio Monroe, on Spotify.
