Anais do Museu Paulista: História e Cultura Material
Publish theoretical and monographic articles that are based on social practices mediated by materiality and addressed as historical, museological, and conservation issues.
Universidade de São Paulo. Museu Paulista
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Is a New Restoration Theory Really Necessary? Some Observations on Salvador Muñoz Viñas’ Book
The volume originates from the belief that today’s principles of restoration no longer correspond to those proposed in the ‘canonical’ texts, judged to be obscure and incongruent, which the Author wants to submit to criticism to constructo a new theoretical structure. This necessity derives from reasons such as the boom in the conservation of contemporary art, the unstoppable rise of digital, the rise of the Heritage category, open to the ‘intangible’, and the explosion of Postmodernism. The contemporary Theory aims to replace the previous ‘myths’ of classical theories (“truth, history, knowledge, science …”) with others, more proper to the problems that restoration seeks today to solve: democracy, sustainability, satisfaction, intersubjectivity. The conceptual watershed is represented by the Burra Charter and the consequent refusal of the recognized restoration principles, starting with the one of ‘reversibility’. The proposed vision is strongly relativistic and subjectivistic, so that restoration objects are not considered as such for their intrinsic cultural value, but as socially recognized symbols, or evidence of ethno-historical disciplines. Little or nothing, in fact, we speak in the volume of history and memory. The author rejects, in particular, the Theory of Cesare Brandi and his not familiar language. He does not want go into thoroughly its logic, which feels far from their sensitivity and preparation, more adherent to an empirical Anglo-Saxon vision. However, he does not renounce the word ‘theory’ so much that one could well say that his is na ‘empirical theory’, that is, in substance, a ‘non-theory’. But perhaps today is not the time to found a ‘new’ theory but rather, in the wake of a long and authoritative tradition, to develop and expand previous acquisitions, with acts of refinement and conceptual integration.
Conservation and Restoration /Dossier Restoration Present and Future: Reflections from the Perspective of Brandi’s Theory
Copyright (c) 2026 Giovanni Carbonara ; Pedro Augusto Vieira Santos https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Introduction to the dossier “Restoration Present and Future: Reflections from the Perspective of Brandi’s Theory”
Copyright (c) 2026 Beatriz Mugayar Kühl, Pedro Augusto Vieira Santos https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Copyright (c) 2025 David William Aparecido Ribeiro, Maria Aparecida de Menezes Borrego https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Still on Cesare Brandi and architecture: the preservation of built heritage and the reflection on theoretical and methodological principles in the disciplinary field of restoration
Insisting on the importance of reflecting on the act of designing interventions in pre-existing structures of recognized heritage value, this article proposes an initial investigation into Cesare Brandi’s contributions beyond his well-known Teoria del Restauro (1963), focusing particularly on his relationship with architecture. This engagement can be understood as an initial step, given the vast body of work by and about this author. The article seeks a first approach to two books that are largely unknown in the Brazilian academic context: Eliante o della Architectura (1957), a publication preceding Brandi’s theory and oriented toward architectural discourse, and Il Patrimonio insidiato: scritti sulla tutela del paesaggio e dell’arte (2001), which compiles a series of short articles originally published in widely circulated Italian newspapers, especially the traditional Milanese newspaper Corriere della Sera. The study operates under the assumption that the theoretical and methodological principles of the disciplinary field of restoration constitute an essential toolkit for addressing contemporary preservation challenges, provided they are understood in light of the specificities of each site, the diverse values attributed by different stakeholders, the cultural context in which it is embedded, and —no less importantly—the understanding of theory (or theories) in their potential for project-based operationalization, in which subjectivity is inherent to preservation practice. Rather than assuming the inapplicability of Brandi’s principles to architecture —a recurring critique in the field— this article argues for renewed critical engagement. Current discourse often seems to suffer from a kind of fearful paralysis to examine restoration as a design practice, one that, instead of fostering dialogue and critical scrutiny, rejects it on principle and without deeper investigation. This perception led us to propose a reexamination of Cesare Brandi’s thought within a rigorous and contextually grounded framework.
Copyright (c) 2026 Natália Miranda Vieira-de-Araújo https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Historical Analysis of the Development of Museum Documentation
This article aims to present the historical development of museum documentation from 1895 to 2024, in both national and international contexts, highlighting events and initiatives that have contributed to the consolidation of this practice within the museum field. It is based on the understanding that documentation is an essential process for the preservation, management, and access to cultural heritage, whose evolution reflects theoretical, institutional, and technological changes over time. Drawing on a qualitative and historical-analytical approach, the research was conducted through a literature review, analysis of regulatory documents, and consultation of institutional sources available on digital platforms. The adopted methodology enabled the collection and organization of previously produced knowledge, supporting the chronological systematization of the most relevant events. The collected data were analyzed in light of theoretical frameworks in the field, allowing for a contextualized understanding of documentation practices. As a result, the study reveals that, despite the different trajectories and technical solutions adopted by museums in various regions of the world, there is a converging movement toward standardization, interoperability, and the expansion of public access to museum data.
Copyright (c) 2026 Renata Cardozo Padilha, Thainá Castro Costa, Beatriz Tarré Alonso, Letícia Felix Voltolini, Carlos José Klann, Filipe Gomes de Souza https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Intervening in the Preexistence: Conservation and Contemporary Art
The text seeks to highlight some relationships between architectural preservation and contemporary artistic production. These relationships can be observed in many layers, starting with the theoretical production, the methodological approach and, finally, the practical action of intervention itself. In addition to the introduction that presents the article, the text is structured in three parts: the first is dedicated to the relationships between Cesare Brandi, author of Theory of Restoration, the contemporary art and the Brazilian scenario; the second seeks to present conceptual bases for the discussion, demonstrating how Brandi has been a reference author for the conservation of contemporary art since the emergence of the topic until more recently; and the third presents some cases, in Brazil and abroad. In conclusion, a well-founded and detailed reading of the theories and a critical approach to the objects lead us to the already known idea of a unity of method, taking into account the specificities of the practical procedures required by each object in preservation works.
Copyright (c) 2026 Pedro Augusto Vieira Santos https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The technique of José Wasth Rodrigues at the entrance of the Paulista Museum: coats of arms of the oldest bandeirante cities
At the entrance of the Museu Paulista are nine coats of arms of the first cities in São Paulo with a bandeirante tradition (São Paulo, Santos, São Vicente, Itanhém, Porto Feliz, Sorocaba, Itu, Taubaté, and Parnaíba), inaugurated in 1926. Of these, only the last five were designed by Affonso D’Escragnolle Taunay, then director of the Museu Paulista, however, all were painted by José Wasth Rodrigues. These are oil paintings on semicircular canvases, about which there is scarce information regarding materials and techniques employed. These aspects are relevant both for documenting the painter's work and for the conservation of these paintings, and these are the reasons why they were investigated in this study. The results revealed that the coats of arms were executed on gilding that completely covers the surface of the canvases, using high-quality gold leaf and a water-based gilding technique. Only in the coats of arms of Sorocaba and Porto Feliz was a less noble alloy detected, perhaps used in later interventions. The silver areas were executed with silver-based paints, except for the Coat of Arms of Taubaté, in which aluminum was used. The color palette, limited by the rules of heraldry, is predominantly based on traditional inorganic pigments; however, the detection of the synthetic pigment PR 3 in some paints indicates that Wasth Rodrigues used commercial products. The information reported here expands the knowledge about the artistic production of José Wasth Rodrigues and will certainly be useful in defining preventive conservation strategies, supporting decisions to be made in future restoration interventions.
Copyright (c) 2026 Isabela Ferreira Sodré dos Santos, Dalva Lucia Araújo de Faria, Yara Ligia Mello Moreira Petrella https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The preservation of Brasília’s cultural heritage: institutional action and processes at the district level
Since 1975, the Federal District has had a body dedicated to the preservation of local cultural heritage, linked to its Secretariat of Culture. This text analyzes its little-known trajectory and local heritage management systems, highlighting actions, challenges and structural changes. The research, based on specific bibliography and the analysis of organograms from the Secretariat, demonstrates that the agency’s performance – initially called the Divisão do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico and now corresponding to the Subsecretaria do Patrimônio Cultural (SUPAC) – peaked in the 1980s. This period, characterized by significant technical management, valuable partnerships, and the prestige gained from the studies that culminated in Brasilia’s recognition as a World Heritage Site by Unesco, further solidified the image of the city’s cultural heritage. However, from the 1990s onwards, a clear decrease in the institutional importance is identified, marked by successive reorganizations, loss of autonomy, and a reduction in its responsibilities, despite a relative stability in the pace of heritage listings. Finally, the preservation policies implemented, which aimed both to reinforce the modernist monumental image of the Plano Piloto and to incorporate complementary narratives about the workers and the pre-existing history, are contextualized here as part of the trajectory of the heritage institution.
Copyright (c) 2026 Daniela Pereira Barbosa https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
“New insertions on the old”: Brandi and the protection of historic centers as a moral instance
This essay examines Cesare Brandi’s contribution to the Italian debate of the 1950s on the relationship between modern architecture and historic cities, also interpreting it in the light of the theoretical principles later developed in the Theory of Restoration (1963). The analysis considers a series of texts and public interventions—from the lecture “Il vecchio e il nuovo nelle antiche città italiane” (1956) to the article “Il nuovo sul vecchio” (1964)—in which Brandi firmly rejects any contemporary insertions into ancient urban contexts, grounding his position on aesthetic, historical, and ethical reasons. From this perspective, the safeguarding of historic centers is not only a technical or regulatory operation, but also a moral imperative and a civic duty.The theoretical reflection is then explored in depth in the specific case of Siena, the critic’s hometown, where Brandi intervened on several occasions to denounce the risks posed by redevelopment projects and incongruous insertions. The comparison with other contemporary positions—particularly those of Argan, Cederna, Michelucci, Pane, Piccinato, Quaroni, and Zevi—makes it possible to situate Brandi’s thought within a broader perspective, highlighting its ethical distinctiveness. The contribution thus emphasizes how, for Brandi, the safeguarding of historic centers is not merely a technical task, but above all a civil duty: a collective responsibility that entails protecting the urban landscape as a unique and unrepeatable heritage, a bearer of civilization. This perspective, even today, provides useful critical tools for reflecting on the relationship between conservation and transformation in historic cities.
Copyright (c) 2026 Marina Docci https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Paratexts and Paratextuality in the Early Modern Period: Thresholds, Functions, and Transformations
Titles, prefaces, tables of contents, epigraphs, and dedications exemplify paratexts, systematically analyzed by Gérard Genette in the 1980s based on 19th- and 20th-century literary works. This study revisits foundational definitions, reviews recent developments in the study of paratexts in the Early Modern period, and proposes a methodological framework for their analysis. Its first section examines expressions by pre-20th-century authors of an awareness regarding the distinctive nature of elements surrounding a printed text and reassess Genette’s contribution. The second addresses three themes not explicitly developed by the French scholar: the unstable nature of authorship, the proliferation of elements within the body of the text endowed with paratextual value, and the expression of this value in non-textual manifestations, such as maps and illustrations. The third introduces two alternative approaches to the study of paratexts: the material construction of printed books in the Early Modern period and the agents responsible for it and the rhetorical dimension of proemial matter. Finally, we articulate a methodological proposal that foregrounds the paratextual value — or paratextuality — of any constitutive element of a historical document, as expressed across its material, performative, and functional dimensions, each of which is simultaneously a sign and a product of the societies that generated it. Emphasizing paratextualityoffers a pathway into the processes of document production and circulation, sociabilities among involved agents, mechanisms of knowledge-making, ideological, political, and religious disputes, networks of loyalty and conflict, modes of apprehension and appropriation of groups, and spacesacross discourse, economic relations, and the technical possibilities of the time.
Copyright (c) 2025 Andréa Doré, André de Melo Araújo, Thomás A. S. Haddad, Verônica Calsoni Lima, Luís Filipe Silvério Lima https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Cesare Brandi and the historical city: travel narratives as an aesthetic experience
Throughout his professional career, Cesare Brandi has developed a vast and diversified bibliographical production, focused on various areas of knowledge: from philosophy to art criticism, from artistic and architectural restoration to the issues involved in the intervention and safeguarding of historic cities. The transdisciplinarity that characterises his practical and intellectual activity was accompanied by an intricate process of knowledge construction that crosses different language and writing resources, giving rise to specific narratives in which literariness acquires particular relevance. In this context, this article focuses on a particular set of Brandi’s writings that have not yet been explored in academic studies: the narratives about architecture, cities and landscapes, among which his travel books stand out. Through a detailed analysis of selected excerpts from this production, we seek to highlight Brandi’s travels and respective narratives as practices of observation, art fruition and literary narrative that accompanied his conceptual elaborations in the fields of aesthetics and art history, providing bases for the artistic and heritage recognition of built pre-existences and the landscape itself in its formal, environmental and aesthetic aspects. Among Brandi’s travel books, this article focuses on a specific section: the study of selected excerpts from Pellegrino di Puglia, published in 1960.
Copyright (c) 2026 Manoela Rossinetti Rufinoni https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The barracks’ transformations in luso-brazilian military architecture
Conflicts in the 17th century’s Iberian Peninsula led to the formation of a permanent army by the Portuguese Crown. New defensive structures and concern with logistical spaces, such as barracks, aimed at meeting the demand. In the military architecture specific typology, the Portuguese Brazilian barracks are the research’s focus, which aims to analyze the typological path. Therefore, a documental study of military treaties was conducted, alongside a theoretical precepts’ systematization and a comparative graphic representation in the treatises and in representative examples of the reflections on the barracks morphology. The results indicate there is a Portuguese military production, although the French influence is noticeable in the examples from the 18th century, similar to the fortified structures and thebarracks are classified into three groups: 1) fortified barracks built inside fortified structures; 2) isolated barracks; and 3) barracks in complexes, which are part of modern military complexes. With the gradual loss of fortifications’ functionality, were the barracks that acquired a protagonism, encompassing other logistics structures, such as prisons and command posts. This also reflected in a structure more elaborated and monumental in some representative cases.
Copyright (c) 2026 Giulia Maia Motta, Marcondes Lima da Costa, Roseane da Conceição Costa Norat https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Archive in dispute: a semantic genealogy of Sérgio Buarque de Holanda’s estate
The article examines the construction of the memory and bibliography of Sérgio Buarque de Holanda, focusing on the organization and destination of his personal archive and library after his death in 1982. The historian’s personal archive and library were sold to the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), which played a central role in preserving his legacy. The text explores the institutional disputes and key figures involved in this process, highlighting the roles of Maria Amélia Buarque de Holanda and Antonio Candido de Mello e Souza in shaping and controlling the historian’s image. The analysis addresses three distinct temporalities in the interpretation of his work: the consolidation of Buarque’s image as an intellectual and essayist in the 1960s; the formalization of his memory after his death in the 1980s; and finally, the critical reassessments of his work from the 1990s onward, when new academics and institutions began to redefine the uses of his archive and his historical significance.
Copyright (c) 2025 Luccas Eduardo Maldonado, Thiago Lima Nicodemo https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Monte Neighborhood: Heritage Preservation and the Neglect of Public Management (Olinda – Brazil)
This article investigates the process of patrimonialization and the daily reality of the Monte neighborhood in the historic Brazilian city of Olinda (Pernambuco – Brazil), which became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982. Through research focused on Oral History, we developed an analysis that dialogues with the areas of heritage, contemporary history and anthropology to understand the advances and limits of the process of patrimonialization of the city in question. With a focus on micro-analysis, we analyze the processes of memory construction and heritage recognition from the perspective of the Monte community, which reveals the contradictions arising from the neglect of public management and the lack of inclusion in the tourist profile of the heritage city. With this analysis, we conclude and point out the importance of a review of Brazilian heritage policy so that it becomes more democratic, with a decolonial and inclusive status.
Copyright (c) 2026 Beatriz de Miranda Brusantin, Elaine Santana do Ó https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Routes of the Bell of São Miguel Marangatu: Decolonial subsidies for documentation of the Museum of the Missions
This study investigates the biography and museum route of the Bell of São Miguel, currently exhibited on the porch of the Museum of the Missions to resignify the knowledge about it and revise its documentary file offered to the public by the documentary system of the museum, the Tainacan. Although now considered by the Museum as a Christian and Jesuit object, this study understands the Bell as a work that, via historical research, can have an itinerary of almost 300 years reconstructed as an indigenous heritage integrated into the collection of a public museum. For this, this study has five sections that document the life of the bell from its foundry in 1726 to the present day in which, defunctionalized as a museological object, it is permeated with interpretations that tension ethnocentric visions and indigenous epistemology. Finally, in possession of the museum route of the Bell, this study elaborates an analysis of the records of the documentary system of the Museum of the Missions to propose documentation based on decoloniality.
Copyright (c) 2025 Jean Tiago Baptista, Zita Rosane Possamai, Ana Karina Calmon, Diego Vivian, Tony Boita, Filipe Gomes de Pompeu https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Cesare Brandi and the Artwork’s Reception: From the Individual to the Heritage Community
This article aims to discuss the relevance of Cesare Brandi’s thinking on restoration today, including the role of the community. It is justified by the fact that Brandi’s proposals are a rich source of inspiration for contemporary approaches, as he was one of the first to understand the role of the observer in the recognition of value, which is the cornerstone of contemporary restoration. Brandi studied the conditions that influence the perception of works of art, placing the individual and their perceptive abilities at the center of the experience. To consistently expand on his propositions, this text revisits ideas from the Theory of Restoration and, above all, from his earlier work in art criticism, which opens up pathways for meaningful developments. It then reexamines the recognition of value, highlighting the shift in emphasis from the individual to the collective, as the “observing subject” today is no longer the individual, but the community in its broad, complex, and multifaceted sense. Based on this, the text engages in action-research in the Esquilino neighborhood, a significant part of central Rome, yielding interesting results, despite its limitations. It is thus possible to show that today we must experiment with approaches that embrace community participation in protection processes to ensure the transmission to the future of a heritage that belongs to everyone, but which is sometimes not properly cared for. The article ultimately highlights something already quite clear to Brandi: the artistic experience and the recognition of value are a right for everyone.
Copyright (c) 2026 Simona Salvo https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Rui Barbosa Museum of the Faculty of Law of Recife: from choosing a name to building a memory
This article investigates the founding process of the Rui Barbosa Museum of the Recife Law School, founded on May 13, 1927, with documents and personal objects of the jurist, donated by Ulysses Brandão. At that time, the academy already had the Recife Law School Museum, created in 1922 by director Netto Campello, with an iconographic collection representing the historical trajectory of the Law School. The political and social transformations that culminated inthe Revolution of Thirty and the Estado Novo (1945) directly affected the School, both politically, culturally, and administratively, with reforms and changes that led to losses in museum collections. It is estimated that the museums merged in the 1950s. During the 1980s, the space was restored andreopened under the name: Rui Barbosa Museum. The lack of records of the collection incorporation process and criteria for choosing the name led to the erasure of the 1922 Museum and raised questions: Why wasn’t the Rui Barbosa collection incorporated into the existing Museum? How did the merger of the museums and the prevalence of the name Rui Barbosa Museum occur? The objective of this article is to suggest possible answers to these questions. The research included a bibliographic and documentary survey. The analyses were based on Maurice Halbwachs’s theoretical perspective of Collective Memory and subjected to the criteria suggested by Pollak. It was observed that the choice of the name Rui Barbosa Museum was a notably symbolic political choice in the construction of the institutional memory of the Recife Law School.
Copyright (c) 2026 Lígia Santos da Silva Rodrigues, Murilo Artur Araújo da Silveira https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
When an architecture book becomes a foreign policy issue
Chilean architecture began to emerge on the international stage in the 1990s, and it was materialized in print through the book Blanca Montaña: Architectura en Chile. This publication, conceived with an ambitious editorial and curatorial project, presents itself as an encyclopedia of prestigious architects and architectures of the moment, but it carries narratives of interest far beyond the architectural field. Blanca Montaña engages with a Chilean identity marker such as “the coldness of Latin America,” implying complex narratives with implicit power structures. On the other hand, we find a promotion of tourism through image associations, contemplative and even inviting metaphors such as in the I Was There exhibition. Beyond the field, the book became an object of interest to be promoted by the State shortly after the 2008 recession for its internationalization in Latin America, the United States, and Europe, not only through the Ministry of Culture but also through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This article analyzes the visual and verbal narratives transmitted by the book about architecture and the country, as well as its dialogue with the economic and political context of the 2008 economic crisis and the interests in building a national image that conveyed security to the market during times of crisis. Thus, through Blanca Montaña, the aim is not only to highlight the prestige of emerging Latin American architecture but also to reflect on how cultural promotion strategies interact with global power dynamics.
Copyright (c) 2026 Stela Mori Neri Silva https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Narratives of educators in a distance learning course on disinformation in Astronomy offered by a Science Museum
Disinformation, as a contemporary socio-technical phenomenon, have become one of the most concerning challenges to be faced. Museums and their professionals are also included in this context, both as targets of fake news and as promoters of debates and research on the subject. This article presents and discusses some experiences from the first edition of the course ‘Fake News e Verificação de Fatos em Astronomia e Ciências Afins’, offered by the Coordination of Science Education at the Museum of Astronomy and Related Sciences (COEDU/MAST). We interpreted the narratives of mediators-teachers and course participants, discussing some initial findings on the formative experiences and the multiple ‘knowledge-meanings’ emerging during the course, as well as raising reflections on the need for adjustments to improve future editions. We highlight the emergence of the following findings: (a) the importance of training for education in/with cyberculture; (b) social networks as the main source of information accessed by course participants and the necessary training to deal with the information they receive and access through them; (c) the concern of course participants about misinformation in the field of astronomy; (d) the concern of some course participants with regards to the training of young people for factchecking; (e) the emergence of different types of disinformation grammars in astronomy content discussed during the course (e.g. sensationalism, conspiratorial tone, selectivity), which led us to rename the course and also to adopt the concept proposed by Recuero.
Copyright (c) 2025 Frieda Maria Marti, Wallace Carriço de Almeida, Patrícia Figueiró Spinelli https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
First architecture biennials in Chile: hidden agenda in the face of Pinochet's urban policies, 1976-1985
Conceived by the College of Architects of Chile to stimulate local production and dialogue between architects and society, the first Chilean Architecture Biennial took place in 1977, just four years after Pinochet's coup. Held uninterruptedly since then, the review of its initial period generally highlighted the aspect of openness to international debate that these exhibitions allowed for local architectural and urban culture. It is intended to demonstrate that the first Chilean Biennials were also a place to defend the professional performance of architects in general and, particularly, regarding urban issues. In context of military intervention and dismantling of urban and regional planning institutions established since Frei's government (1965-1970), the biennials provided a place in which it was possible to debate urbanism, social housing and defense of the architect's position in relation to these. To this end, we will first seek to situate the first five Chilean biennials (1977-1985) as a piece of resistance amid the crossroads between the weakening of urban and regional planning institutions, the oscillation of urban policies and the depreciation of regulatory professional bodies. Next, it will be demonstrated how issues pertinent to urban planning practiced by architects, urban heritage and social housing were present in these biennials.
Copyright (c) 2025 Gisela Barcellos de Souza https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Housing at the rural-urban crossroads: CINVA’s role in Post-War Latin America
This article aims to contribute to the historiographical revision of institutional reflection and action in housing and planning in Latin America in the period following World War II. The object of analysis is the work of the Centro Interamericano de Vivienda y Planeamiento (CINVA), synthesized in the technical studies and experimental projects it developed, the courses and publications it produced, as well as the events in the field to which it contributed. To achieve this, the study draws on previously unpublished primary sources housed in public archives of Latin American countries and updated secondary sources, such as the most recent bibliography on these topics. The hypothesis posits that the consolidated historiography has obscured the historical perspective of technicians and intellectuals on rural and peri-urban territories, while also overlooking genealogical experiences that are distinctly Latin American. A thorough analysis of the documentation allows for the elucidation of these hypotheses and points to new research horizons, centered on the interface between community action and Catholic thought.
Copyright (c) 2026 Nilce Aravecchia-Botas, Ana Patricia Montoya Pino, Matheus Bonini Machado, Beatriz Barsoumian de Carvalho https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Local elites, social domination and invisibilities: the construction of official memory at the Municipal Historical Museum of Palmas (PR)
Museums are institutions authorized to produce and project “legitimate” representations of the past, social groups, and historical characters. This study analyzes the process of construction and representation of official memory at the Professor José Alexandre Vieira Municipal Historical Museum, created in 1979 in the municipality of Palmas (PR). This study analyzes the official representation of the contribution of several social groups — ethnic-racial groups, families, ruling political class, economic segments, etc. — to the socio-historical formation of the municipality, the place they occupy in the museum space, and the relevance for local history they acquire in the narrative conveyed by the museum. This study analyzed the expographic narrative of the museum, reconstructing it by ethnographic incursions into the exhibition route, and carried out a documentary research in the historical archive available at the institution. This research found that the Palmas Museum fits as a symbolic investment strategy that operates as a mechanism for reproducing the domination of local elites who mobilize memory as a resource to symbolically reproduce their social domination, by the social consecration of great families and the election of great characters who compose the historical pantheon of the municipality. The social reproduction of local elites and relationships of domination in the universe of memory and the symbolic imply the invisibility and erasure of social groups that have been historically dominated in the local context, especially Indigenous groups and populations of African origin.
Copyright (c) 2025 Lucas Voigt, Luiz Fernando Rankel https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
From preventive restauration to preventive conservation: perspectives
The sixtieth anniversary of the publication of Cesare Brandi’s of Restoration Theory, (1963) and the twenty-year anniversary of the publication of the translation into Portuguese by Professor Beatriz Mugayar Kühl (2004) have prompted numerous reflections on that seminal text, including the Seminar RESTORATION PRESENT AND FUTURE, REFLECTIONS FROM THE BRANDIAN THEORY. This article, which is based on the presentation of the same title at the aforementioned event, seeks to reflect on some of the issues raised in the chapter on Preventive Restoration, bringing some developments in the field of preventive conservation in recent decades to contextualize Brazilian production since the late 1990s. We present the research group Preventive Conservation of Historic Buildings and Sites, which has developed research related to the main preventive actions for the preservation of Cultural Heritage, with the aim of broadening discussions on the subject.
Copyright (c) 2026 Claudia Suely Rodrigues de Carvalho https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
This article reflects on ethnographic theories and critical counterpoints to Western regimes of control and classification regarding the “things of others”. The article recovers Western conceptions of thing and object, in view of their incompatibility with ontological assumptions derived from indigenous societies of the South American lowlands. Marked by the association between thing, body, person and kinship, these assumptions come into direct conflict with modern forms of institutionalization and their constitutive silencing of other forms of existence.
Copyright (c) 2026 Pedro de Niemeyer Cesarino, Lucas da Costa Maciel https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Representations of the slavery past in the Museu Imperial: “Um Sarau Imperial” and “Espetáculo Som e Luz”
This article aims to analyze the representations of the slavery past in Um Sarau Imperial and Espetáculo Som e Luz, productions that took place at the Museu Imperial, in the city of Petrópolis. They were created in the early 2000s and, basing themselves on historical events involving members of the Imperial family, they wanted to debate political, economic, social, and cultural issues of 19th century society. The narratives about the Imperial past present on both productions were highly connected to the writing of History that would value “great events” and “important figures”, which took root and spread in Petrópolis through the network of those nostalgic for the Empire in the late 1930s and early 1940s. In Um Sarau Imperial and Espetáculo Som e Luz, the image that was constructed of the Imperial Family, particularly that of Princess Isabel and D. Pedro II, portrayed them as kind, modern, and against slavery. Both productions only discuss the topic of slavery tangentially, as to connect its end to the actions of Princess Isabel, mainly, and of the members of the abolitionist movement. In doing so, they disregard the agency that slaves and freemen had around the time slavery was abolished. This approach is a consequence of debates that were being had in the field of Historiography decades before the premiere of Um Sarau Imperial and Espetáculo Som e Luz. By adopting a decolonial perspective, we seek to analyze how both productions contribute to reiterate a nostalgic and positive portrayal of the brazilian imperial past.
Copyright (c) 2026 Jamile da Silva Neto https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Challenges and prospects for the training of architects and urban planners in the light of Cesare Brandi's Theory
This article analyzes the importance and relevance of Cesare Brandi’s Restoration Theory (1963) in the training and work of professionals in Architecture and Urbanism in the Brazilian context. The research is based on the findings of a historiographical and educational gap in the field of preservation, marked by the disarticulation between theory and practice, the scarcity of specific content in undergraduate courses, and the problematic treatment of cultural assets in the face of pressures imposed by the real estate market. The research adopts a theoreticalcritical approach, based on a bibliographical review, emphasizing the texts by Brandi, Carbonara, Carboni and Kühl. Brandi’s theory, in defining restoration as a critical and methodological act, is a fundamental reference for facing contemporary challenges, as it articulates scientific knowledge with the safeguarding of cultural heritage. The results show the urgent need for excellent training, based on ethical and deontological principles, capable of preparing professionals who are aware of their social role and the implications of their practice, concluding that the teaching of preservation must be recognized as a component in the training of Architecture and Urbanism, inserted in a transversal way and integrated with the project, theory and history, and not as an isolated subject. Therefore, the need for teacher qualification and curriculum revision is reinforced to consolidate architectural and urban restoration as a practice field for architects and urban planners.
Copyright (c) 2026 Ana Paula Farah https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
here the Rivers Meet: Landscapes of Mauritsstad and New Amsterdam
In the 17th century, the Dutch West India Company (WIC) of the Republic of the Seven Provinces, now the Netherlands, founded several overseas settlements that later became major cities; among them Recife (Mauritsstad from 1637 to 1654) and New York (New Amsterdam from 1624 to 1661). Despite similarities, such as the presence of WIC as entrepreneur, their colonial function, and the importance of the Jewish community, these municipalities have yet to be closely examined for their visual and formal similarities and contrasts. By considering the concept of landscape within the framework of the social history of the Seven Provinces and their New World colonies, we propose a comparative approach based on the analysis and discussion of iconographic sources, our primary materials. Maps, paintings, and engravings are examined for their compositional arrangement, the elements they include (or omit), and the perspectives of traveling artists. By critically engaging with these representations, we discuss how these urban centers were constructed according to the cultural and subjective criteria that shaped them, highlighting the connections between the two municipalities within a unified historical narrative.
Copyright (c) 2025 Leonardo Nóbrega, Ricardo Trevisan https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
From history museums to contemporary histories museums (Argentina, second half of the 20th century)
From history museums to contemporary histories museums (Argentina, second half of the 20th century) Abstract This article analyses the incorporation of contemporary topics into museums of the second half of the 20th century, focusing on cultural practices linked to circulation, collection and availability of objects for museum collections. Our aim is to articulate analytical perspectives and approaches of different historiography fields and subfields so as to deepen the study of museums with historical narratives—a line of research which, unlike other disciplines and other countries of the region, has only recently begun to be explored with a certain degree of systematization in Argentina. The hypothesis guiding the research is that political and sociocultural transformations in the international scene between the post-war period and the dawn of the 21st century had an impact on social sciences, stressing shifts of sense from history to memory and experiential testimony, and modifying collecting practices and traditional museum institutions. This, in turn, altered the fin-de-siècle notion of “history museum,” which presented transcendent events on the origins of the nation and the provinces, and triggered the emergence of new institutions aimed at addressing other topics, including contemporary events. The interests put at stake by certain actors in different political arenas also promoted the development of museum collections on specific topical issues over others. This configuration of the museum landscape continues to influence the ways in which 20th century phenomena are managed, interpreted and represented in the 21st century.
Copyright (c) 2026 María Élida Blasco https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Copyright (c) 1961 Mario Neme https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Raw masculinity: barbecue grills, gender prosthetics, and domestic space
This paper aims to present a case study that highlights the complex relationships between domesticity and gender: the domestic space dedicated to the barbecue grill, a setting gendered and coded as masculine – contrasting with the kitchen, typically coded as a feminine environment. Although these two spaces share similar functions, preparing and serving food, they can be marked by gender-specific features, including adornments that act as “gender prosthetics”, according to Paul B. Preciado’s theory. This study seeks to analyze one of these decorative (and functional) objects, here regarded as a masculinity prosthesis, considering both its symbolic and material aspects.
Copyright (c) 2025 Matheus Silva Dallaqua https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0