São João del-Rei, laboratório do pensamento modernista: os agentes e o Iphan

Abstract

Since the beginning of the twentieth century, discussions about historical heritage have gone through deep expansions, and with this, major challenges arose in relation to the policies and criteria to be used for the preservation of cultural assets throughout the West. In Brazil, these discussions gained emphasis from the 1920s on the idea of the New State to build the “new Brazilian man”, bringing to the architects the first reflections on the preservation of heritage in line with the effort to understand and define the Brazilian nation. However, most of the studies done today about the construction of the idea of preservation in our country revolves around the work of the National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute - Iphan, created in 1937. Thus, this article has the purpose of clarify the ways in which Iphan operates through the structuring of its policies in the city of São João del-Rei (Brazil), since 1938, when the city was registered by the organ, until 1988, with the promulgation of the current Brazilian Federal Constitution. The works of the architects Sylvio de Vasconcellos, Alcides da Rocha Miranda and Arthur Arcuri, the main characters involved in the interventions that took place in the city, are considered. The analysis of works and communications reports available at the Documentation and Information Center of Iphan in Belo Horizonte and in the Central Archives of Iphan in Rio de Janeiro made it possible to know the vision of these professionals about the historical center of São João del-Rei, understood in their image of nucleus “genuinely Brazilian”, formative of the nation. It was observed the construction of policies and strategies of actions, since they were linked to Iphan’s offices in Belo Horizonte and Rio de Janeiro, and extended their influence in cities considered as “monuments” of national identity. It is also possible to observe the mismatch between the actions of the small group of intellectuals at the head of Iphan in Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, including their repercussions in São João del-Rei. It is intended with this analysis to open perspectives for understanding the consequences of these actions, now consolidated in the historical center of São João del-Rei.