Brazil’s architecture is an exhilarating carnival where sumptuous Baroque with gilded altars combines with the bold lines of Modernism, where a giant elevator stands alongside a museum made of glass and concrete that seems to float in the air. It is also the fates of geniuses captured in stone: the Communist-atheist Oscar Niemeyer, who gifted the country and the world with an ultra-modern cathedral, and the “little cripple” Aleijadinho, who was a creator despite his illness. Seven gems of Brazilian architecture are the subject of the next piece in the Wonders of the BRICS World cycle about the most impressive creations of human thought and culture.
Text: Ksenia Apel
01.12.2025
The history of Brazilian architecture begins in the 16th century, when Portuguese colonies were established there. The indigenous people had not developed their own monumental tradition by that time. In the first phase of colonization in the 16th‑17th centuries, fazenda manor houses were built without the help of professional architects, and churches were mostly raised by monastic orders.
The 18th‑19th centuries saw the heyday of Brazilian architecture, associated with the Baroque style, which survived here significantly longer than in Europe. In the 20th and early 21st centuries, Brazil has been experiencing a new architectural boom. Oscar Niemeyer, a native of Rio de Janeiro, is a classic of world architecture, whose works are found on four continents.
1. Church of Saint Francis of Assisi in Ouro Preto (1766–1794)
Among the masterpieces of Minas Gerais Baroque, the especially lavish Brazilian version of the pan-European style, is the church dedicated to Saint Francis of Assisi. The city of Ouro Preto is in the south of the state of Minas Gerais (Main Mines), which became the cradle of a new architecture. In the first period of colonization, Brazil attracted the Portuguese with its vast sugarcane plantations but, at the end of the 17th century, gold was discovered there. Soon, the state of Minas Gerais was supplying 85% of the world’s gold market. Diamonds were discovered in Brazil some time later, as well.
The church’s particular plastic expressiveness is achieved by the towers being set at an angle relative to the façade. The author not only of the architectural concept but also of the sculpture and carving of the church’s altar was the outstanding master Antônio Francisco Lisboa, nicknamed Aleijadinho (1730–1814). His biography begs to be turned into a novel and then a film adaptation. The future to-be-celebrated architect was born to a dark-skinned slave woman and a Portuguese man, Manuel Francisco Lisboa. But the father-architect took the boy in, freed him from slavery, gave him his name, even though he had a lawful wife and children, and became his first teacher, as did his grandfather. In adulthood, the master developed leprosy; he had to tie his tools to his gloves. Because of the disease, Antônio Francisco Lisboa received his nickname “the little cripple”, Aleijadinho. In 1968, a museum of Aleijadinho opened in Ouro Preto demonstrating his works and those of other master sculptor.
2. Church and Convent of San Francisco, Salvador (First Quarter of the 18th Century)
Baroque loves complex, multifaceted decoration but, in Minas Baroque, the decorative richness reaches a climax. Looking at the Church and Convent of San Francisco in Salvador, the viewer is first attracted by the contrast between the light towers and the darker tone of the central façade, where undulating volutes are woven into an intricate pattern. The Brazilian version of the style is characterized by a combination of Baroque and Rococo elements. Then the imagination is struck by the extremely rich interior, which is almost entirely gilded. The elaborate pattern of the vault coffers, the abundance of relief elements combined with polychrome sculpture and monochrome faience azulejos can mesmerize even the most insensitive visitor.
Azulejo, the Portuguese analogue of the Spanish azulejos, consisting of faience tiles painted cobalt blue, appeared on the Iberian Peninsula under the influence of Arab ceramics. The contrast between the excessive sumptuousness of the gilded carving and the smooth calm surface of the faience tiles is additionally effective. Azulejos with scenes in fanciful Baroque frames also decorate the cloister of the monastery of Saint Francis, to which the cathedral belongs.
Nearby is the Church of the Third Order of San Francisco, also built by the Franciscans. Because of the names of the churches are so similar and they belong to the same era and style, confusion often arises in information sources. The Church of the Third Order has a more modest interior décor, but this is compensated by an incredible sculptural façade. Both churches and the monastery are part of Salvador’s historic centre, which is under UNESCO protection.
Salvador was the capital of Brazil until 1763, when it was replaced by Rio de Janeiro, with its port through which the gold of Minas Gerais was exported to Portugal. Salvador is divided into an upper city (historic part with baroque churches) and a lower one. You can get from one part to the other in just half a minute thanks to the Elevador Lacerda. The structure, named after engineer Augusto Frederico de Lacerda, is 72 metres high, comparable to a 24‑storey building. The public are lifted by four elevators located in a single tower. Each elevator holds 32 passengers. The counterweights are located in a parallel tower, half-buried in the hillside. In one day, operating from 5 a. m. to midnight, the elevator carries about 28 thousand people. In addition, the Elevador Lacerda offers an opportunity to admire the Bay of All Saints from its upper viewing platform. The elevator was modernized in 1906, reconstructed in 1930 and renovated in the 1980s. Only in 2006 was it recognized as an artistic and historical heritage of Brazil.
4. São Paulo Museum of Art (1968)
What should the art museum of Brazil’s biggest city be like? In what building and how can a collection of 11,000 items be housed, a collection that includes classical European art, Brazilian art, an African collection, and decorative and applied arts? The astonishing building of the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP) was designed by architect Lina Bo Bardi (1914–1992), commissioned by media magnate, politician and university professor Assis Chateaubriand. The glass parallelepiped seems to float in the air, anchored to a giant red double П-shaped frame. The architect raised the structure eight metres above the ground, freeing the space beneath for promenades and fairs.
For the first time, the idea of needing to return the space occupied by houses appeared in the 1920s: for Le Corbusier, this is one of the five principles of modern architecture. It is embodied in a variety of buildings, starting with the Villa Savoye (Savoy). This same concept is important for Constructivists, being found, for instance, in the famous Narkomfin Building in Moscow. Even so, Bo Bardi’s solution is particularly elegant, since there are no intermediate supports and the entire parallelepiped floats.
Lina Bo Bardi was born in Rome. After earning an degree in architecture, she made a living as an illustrator and journalist, and was deputy editor-in-chief of the authoritative magazine Domus. Lina held Communist views and the social functioning of architecture was very important to her. She moved to Brazil with her husband, art historian Pietro Maria Bardi, in 1946, shortly after their wedding, and lived there for 46 years. In addition to building MASP, Lina turned an abandoned factory on the outskirts of São Paulo into a super-modern cultural and leisure centre, converted a burned-out office building into the Oficina Theatre and built the Glass House for herself. An homage to the outstanding architect was an installation referring to her key works and principles, and the exhibition If the Walls Were Water in the summer–autumn season at the GES‑2 House of Culture in Moscow.
The red frame of the building invites contemplation of the very phenomenon of framed perception, a theme that continues in the interior. Lina Bo Bardi invented a new display concept. At MASP, the paintings are not hung on walls as in the Orsay or the Hermitage. Paintings are held by glass panels placed in concrete blocks on the floor. So, the boundaries between masters and directions, as in a traditional museum, disappear. Unexpected dialogues arise between works. It is important that both contemporary art and old masters are shown in this way, so the viewers can build their own trajectories.
5. The Metropolitan Cathedral of São Sebastião, Rio de Janeiro (1964–1979)
At first glance, it is hardly obvious that this is a sacred building. Generally speaking, the question of what religious art in the 20th century should look like is very interesting, since forms of the past cannot be reproduced mechanically without loss of meaning. The desire to create modern temples for today’s believers was the starting point for the appearance of Notre Dame du Haut (architect – Le Corbusier), the chapel in Ronchamp, and other modern sacred projects, the Chapel of the Rosary decorated by Henri Matisse in Vence, and the Chapel of the Holy Cross built by Margarita Staude, pupil of the great Frank Lloyd Wright.
Edgar Fonseca, architect of the The Metropolitan Cathedral of São Sebastião dedicated to the heavenly patron of Rio de Janeiro, chose the form of a truncated cone inspired by the Mayan pyramids in Mexico. The cathedral took 12 years to build and can accommodate up to 20,000 people. Its interior impresses with vast stained glass windows arranged along vertical axes. These bands of stained glass resemble rays emanating from a cross formed by transparent windows at the top of the structure.
6. Cathedral of Brasília (1959–1960)
Although the idea of moving the Brazilian capital from Rio de Janeiro closer to the country’s centre dates back to the 19th century, implementation of the project only began decades later. Construction of the new capital was launched in 1956, and Brasília received official status in 1960.
The concept of the new city was developed by Lúcio Costa, who used the image of an airplane in designing the master plan. Costa was also involved in the history and theory of architecture and was a teacher. Oscar Niemeyer (1907–2012), the most famous of his pupils and co-authors, realized Brasília’s master plan. Niemeyer’s legacy, that of a classic of modern architecture who lived to an age of nearly 105, is enormous. One of his most interesting works is the Cathedral of Brasília.
Its 16 columns are an architectural metaphor for hands turned toward the sky in prayer. At first, the visitor passes through a dark corridor to enter a space filled with light. The gaps between the columns are occupied entirely by stained glass. It was for the Cathedral of Brasília that, in 1988, Niemeyer received the Pritzker Prize, the most prestigious award in architecture.
The idea of building a modernist cathedral in a modernist city belonged to the President of Brazil, Juscelino Kubitschek (1902–1976), who launched reforms in various spheres and was inspired by the idea of the new capital symbolizing a new Brazil. Yet the Catholic Church did not like this at all and the cathedral was only consecrated in 1968. Despite its clear visual expressiveness, it soon became apparent that, because of such an expanse of glazing, in the Brazilian climate the cathedral’s ventilation and cooling systems were inadequate and there were acoustic problems. Niemeyer modified the cathedral in the 1980s.
7. City of ARTS (Cidade das Artes), Rio de Janeiro (2013)
The very name of the ensemble suggests it is something more than a cultural centre. The City of Arts, occupying an area of 90 thousand square metres, includes the largest chamber and electroacoustic halls in South America, the premises of the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, ten rehearsal rooms, three cinema halls, a music school, a media library, cafés and shops. Speaking of the City of Arts again brings to mind Lúcio Costa, Niemeyer’s teacher. The centre was built in an area developed according to Costa’s plan at the junction of two major thoroughfares. Between the supports of the building, raised above the ground (in a nod to Lina Bo Bardi), there are ponds and promenade areas.
The author of the City of Arts is architect Christian de Portzamparc. He became the first French recipient of the Pritzker Prize (1994). De Portzamparc’s professional biography includes several major projects related to music. From 1984 to 1995, he created the City of Music (The Cité de la Musique) and, in 1997–2005, built the Philharmonie Luxembourg.
Oscar Niemeyer, who called himself “the last Communist” and cooperated with the Communist Parties of France and Cuba, was an atheist. In 1963, the architect was awarded the Lenin Prize. He accepted the award remotely, without going to the USSR. Active use was made in Soviet modernist architecture of many of Niemeyer’s discoveries, as a member of the USSR Academy of Arts.
