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
Adaptations of architectural monuments for exhibition purposes: damage to built and artistic heritage in recent interventions at the Museu de Arte Moderna and at the Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Bahia
This article aims to discuss the complex and difficult relationship between architectural restoration and the functional requalification of buildings and urban centers of cultural interest – based on the analysis of contemporary reuse interventions in two historical monuments of immense artistic and cultural value, and the consequences of these initiatives. Strangely, in contemporary times there has been a prevailing understanding that the revitalization of works through their “reuse” would decree their “restoration,” regardless of the spatial, typological, and compositional alterations that the architectural or urban objects may have undergone. In another direction, we believe that use must be appropriate and compatible with the preexisting object; otherwise, the intervention that prioritizes reuse at the expense of spatial characteristics, in order to adapt the structure to a new function, ultimately mutilates the very object of preservation interest. To defend this premise, we will analyze the actions undertaken to implement or improve exhibition functions in two museums in the city of Salvador. In the case of Solar do Unhão – a colonial complex that underwent a celebrated intervention led by architect Lina Bo Bardi – a 1990s renovation closed the window openings of the large exhibition hall with wooden walls. In the case of Palacete Comendador Catharino, an eclectic mansion from the early 20th century, the interventions the building underwent from the 2000s onwards, conceived to Museu Rodin Bahia, later Palacete das Artes and now MAC Bahia, resulted in extensive architectural mutilation and damage to its integrated artistic elements. The harmful impact of the improvements made to meet contemporary demands reveals the dangers of prioritizing use over the architectural unity of buildings – and how these initiatives stray from the field of restoration.
Copyright (c) 2026 Rodrigo Espinha Baeta, Juliana Cardoso Nery https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The display of copies of universal and canonical art alongside national art in fine arts museums (Buenos Aires and Santiago de Chile, 1901–1911)
This article examines the exhibition strategy and the institutional integration of the collections of sculptural casts assembled in the early 20th century for the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes of Buenos Aires (MNBA-BA) and the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes of Santiago de Chile (MNBA-CH). From a comparative approach based on connected history, the article details the process of forming the exhibition outline carried out by the opening of both museums in 1911. The two institutions chose to include sculptural casts in their main entrance halls alongside contemporary or recent sculptures, both international and national. Through the analysis of period photographs and catalogs, it is argued that in these South American museums, tracings functioned as canonical devices of the past that were integrated into national art through exhibition strategies.
Copyright (c) 2026 Milena Gallipoli https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Paths of modernity: the São Paulo Rio Grande Railway and movie theaters in western Santa Catarina
This article investigates the role of regional integration provided by the São Paulo Rio Grande Railway, and its influence on the formation of local urban centers. Focusing on western Santa Catarina, it analyzes the genesis and expansion of street movie theaters, interpreting these cultural equipment as symbols of a modernity that spread to rural areas from the 1920s onwards, along the railway lines driven by the connection with São Paulo, Paraná, and Rio Grande do Sul. Methodologically, the research combines critical bibliographic review, and analysis of diverse primary sources, including public collections, municipal archives, digital records, and social media materials. The results highlight a dynamic relationship between the railway connection and the economic and cultural transformation of the region, with street movie theaters being sensitive indicators of this process. Finally, the article discusses how these film screening spaces not only reflected but also actively marked the transitions between rural and urban, local and global, in western Santa Catarina.
Copyright (c) 2026 Luís Eduardo Candeia, Renata Rogowski Pozzo https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Railway Workers’ Housing in the State of São Paulo: Typologies, Hierarchies, and Contemporary Preservation Challenges
Housing built for railway workers constitutes a structural component of São Paulo’s industrial-railway heritage by articulating home, work, and surveillance across different territorial contexts. This article analyzes the role of these buildings in the operation of São Paulo’s railways from the late nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century, with an emphasis on rural housing colonies in small and medium-sized towns that belonged to the former Estrada de Ferro Araraquara (EFA), the study’s empirical core. The aim is to understand how the formal configuration, site layout, and internal organization of this set express corporate policies of accommodation and control, as well as the ambiguities of its social persistence in the present. The methodology combines architectural and photographic survey, analysis of design documents preserved in archival collections, and a review of the literature on railway villages, mobilizing these materials to identify construction patterns, functional rationalities, and contemporary uses. The inventory highlights the typological diversity of the surveyed examples, their insertion within railway complexes, and the uneven processes of transformation and preservation currently underway. As a contribution, the article shifts the focus from studies traditionally centered on passenger buildings and urban villages owned by major companies, and incorporates EFA housing examples located in rural areas and in little-examined stretches, bringing them into debates on labor memory and preservation policies. The results thus indicate that the continued presence of these dwellings in the territory challenges hierarchical, fragmented heritage readings centered on formal exceptionalism, requiring approaches capable of recognizing their historical, social, and conflictual dimensions in the present.
Copyright (c) 2026 Eduardo Bacani Ribeiro https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The landscape in process: from the city to the neighborhood through the application of historical GIS and the cross-referencing of research sources in the city of Ribeirão Preto
Through the georeferencing, survey, systematization and analysis of building-permit processes from the Private Works collection of the Public and Historical Archive of Ribeirão Preto (APHRP), this article investigates the formation of Ribeirão Preto’s urban landscape between 1910 and 1955, with emphasis on the 1920–1930 interval. The study combines the spatialization of processes in a QGIS database, the redrawing and overlay of historical cartographies to produce chronological urban patches, the generation of serial thematic cartography, and a lot-by-lot survey in Vila Tibério supported by primary documentation and fieldwork. Results highlight vectors of urban expansion and processes of densification, the concentration of production in specific design agents, and the identification of a substantial set of historic remnants in the contemporary urban fabric. The article contributes to the historiography of architecture and urbanization by proposing a replicable methodological protocol that integrates digital humanities and documentary research and discusses its applicability to cultural-heritage safeguarding policies.
Copyright (c) 2026 Ana Carolina Gleria Lima 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
Between Paradise Lost and Civilization: Palm trees in landscape representations of Rio de Janeiro during the transitional decades from Empire to Republic
By recognizing the landscape of Rio de Janeiro as a symbolic creation based on the aesthetic relationship between city and nature, this study analyzes the meanings of one of its most frequently represented elements, beyond the well-known Sugarloaf Mountain: the palm trees. To this end, the study is based on the fact that the representation of these plants, which apparently functioned as a national symbol during the Empire, was not abandoned in photographs of the capital in the decades of transition to the Republic. In order to interpret the relations that made this preservation possible, the study initially articulates descriptions of Paradise Lost by John Milton and the import of Neoclassicism with the academic training in landscape painting in Brazil. Finally, the study analyzes how these relations can also be found in photographs by Marc Ferrez – photographer commissioned by both the Empire and the Republic – in the last decades of the nineteenth century. It is observed, therefore, the symbolic transfer of palm trees from landscape paintings and photographs to the built spaces of the city, and vice versa. Although the two faces of the former national capital in the late nineteenth century may appear paradoxical – an untouched nature, but ruined by urban engineering works –, the palm trees, which conveyed representations of an imagined paradise and a nation built in the tropics, seem to function as elements that bridge both.
Museum and memories in the exhibition Pretagonisms in the MNBA collection: towards a potential history?
Is it possible to conceive of exhibitions featuring historical artworks that don't tell "a single story"? Can reparative practices help ensure more plural museum narratives and minimize the impact of imperial or colonial legacies? It is with this in mind that we aim to analyze the exhibition "Pretagonismos no Acervo do Museu Nacional de Belas Artes" (Black Protagonism in the National Museum of Fine Arts Collection), held at Espaço BNDES (2024-2025). We believe this exhibition allows us to think from the perspective of a "potential history," as proposed by Ariella Aïsha Azoulay. A potential history is neither a history of possibilities (what if?) nor a history solely of the oppressed. Instead, it's a history that can unearth what lives in the present, amidst the rubble of the disaster of colonization and slavery. In this way, imperial history is reduced to just one of the possible stories to be told, not the only one. We conducted three visits to the exhibition, in addition to participating in a debate with the curators and the director of the MNBA. Photographs, videos, and field diary notes form part of our analytical corpus, as does the exhibition catalog. Through the act of re-titling artworks, effacing, and highlighting portraits of Black individuals—especially the works in the "Nas Brechas da Representação" (In the Gaps of Representation) section—the curators manage to reclaim the Black potency that was already present in the past as an alternative pathway, yet persisted as an underground memory.
Between memories and awareness of feminine cultural assets on women: An analysis of women's museums and/or museums about women
This article provides a historical survey of “women's museums or museums about women” by the Brazilian Institute of Museums (IBRAM), discussing female representation and women's memories. The objective is to investigate how these museums are structured, the memory of the woman honored in the museum's nomenclature, its preservation, as well as the proposition of female cultural representation. We use theoretical conceptions of the history of the present time, as well as gender museology and women's history, in order to understand the reach and expansion of memory spaces such as museums. Methodologically, the research is part of a broader project, being a cross-section, focusing on the historical dimension of the museum as a space for female emancipation, with female heritage assets, representation and memory of women, discussing the process of exposing, preserving, expanding and safeguarding female cultural assets, as part of the historical-cultural heritage.
Copyright (c) 2026 Jaqueline Aparecida Martins Zarbato, Maristela Carneiro 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
Domestic Animals in Clay Ornaments of the Sultanate of Banten: An Expression of Human-Environment Relations
This study investigates the role of domestic animals as sources of inspiration in the decorative arts of the Sultanate of Banten, a maritime Islamic kingdom that flourished on the northwestern coast of Java, between the 16th and 19th centuries. Employing a historical archaeology approach, the research examines clay ornaments and related historical documentation to identify animal motifs commonly represented in palace artworks and to interpret their symbolic meanings. The findings reveal that livestock such as buffaloes, ducks, and chickens were not only central to the economic and social life of the archipelago but also embodied cultural values that shaped Banten’s artistic expression. By highlighting the representation of these animals in decorative arts, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of Banten’s art and cultural history, while underscoring the interconnection between human communities, domestic animals, and biodiversity. Ultimately, this study provides insights into how cultural heritage, rooted in local ecological practices and traditional knowledge systems, can inform contemporary efforts to balance wildlife conservation with the preservation of local identity and traditional ecological knowledge.
Copyright (c) 2026 Sarjiyanto, Libra Hari Inagurasi, Sukawati Susetyo, Agustijanto Indradjaja, Ida Bagus Putu Prajna Yogi, Hary Ganjar Budiman 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
Transits, displacements and movements: Horacio Hora among papers, canvases and plaster
The main objective of this text is to present and analyze the professional trajectory and geographic movements of Horacio Hora, a Black painter from Sergipe who gained prominence in the nineteenth century for his refined technique. He experienced a remarkable ascent in his artistic education, moving from his hometown of Laranjeiras and crossing the Atlantic twice. In Paris, he studied at the École Municipale de Dessin du 10e arrondissement and trained in the studio of Alexandre Cabanel. In Salvador, he held an exhibition featuring 42 works and was named an honorary and corresponding member of the Bahia Academy of Fine Arts. Hora created remarkable paintings and numerous portraits. Although he is regarded as one of Sergipe’s most distinguished artists, his legacy has received limited attention in the historiography of Brazilian art. Drawing on images such as a commemorative postage stamp, select paintings, and portraits, this study aims to shed light on the paths Hora traveled and the cultural circuits he navigated.
Copyright (c) 2026 Daniela Queiroz Campos 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
Le nuove vedute della capitale: Two Italian architects in the city of Paraíba at the beginning of the 20th century
This paper presents the contribution of Italian architects Paschoal Fiorillo (1884-1954) and Hermenegildo Di Lascio (1884-1957) to the transformation of the architecture and urban landscape in the city of Paraíba (now João Pessoa, Paraíba) in the early decades of the 20th century, amid modernization, sanitation, and beautification policies implemented during the First Brazilian Republic, especially under the Camilo de Hollanda government (1916-1920). Understood within the context of the Italian presence in the city, which was expressive in its social, cultural, and economic aspects, albeit quantitatively limited, the trajectories of Fiorillo and Di Lascio are seen as archetypal of a broader and still understudied set of actions performed by Italian professionals in shaping the city at the turn of the century. Considering the entwinement between personal and professional paths, this paper elucidates social arrangements and distinct work procedures explored by Fiorillo and Di Lascio to meet the demands of a public and private construction market that was at once limited and unstable, in practices in which mastery of a broad architectural lexicon grounded in eclecticism was invaluable. Considering the enduring colonial marks etched into the capital’s landscape and architecture around the fin de siècle, and how uneasy this aesthetic stagnation felt within the emergence of new republican values, the changes inlaid by these professionals defined the tone of a fleeting and belated local belle époque, presenting a tangible expression of the desired modernity amidst limitations then imposed.
Copyright (c) 2026 Francisco Sales Trajano Filho, Gabriel de Oliveira Madruga https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The Bridge as an Urban and Symbolic Device: Paulo Bruscky's Artistic Experience in Downtown Recife
The city has been represented and interpreted through various artistic expressions over time, with particular emphasis during specific historical periods—such as the avant-garde movements of the early twentieth century and the neo-avant-gardes between the 1950s and 1970s—when urban space became a central focus of aesthetic experimentation and social critique. Within this broader context of heightened attention to the city, the artist Paulo Bruscky, born in Pernambuco in 1949, emerged by using the urban landscape of Recife as both inspiration and medium for his artistic production. Engaging in dialogue with both national and international art scenes, his works offer new perspectives on urban experience, as exemplified by the action Arte/Pare (1973), carried out on the Boa Vista Bridge in downtown Recife. Based on an analysis of this work, the article seeks to reflect on how Bruscky’s artistic action can be understood as a tactic of urban investigation and intervention, aligning with the concept of the “constructed situation” proposed by the Situationist International, which aimed to transform everyday life through critical and disruptive experiences in urban space.
“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
The arrival of cinema in Parahyba do Norte: “street cinemas” and the movements of change in urban habits in the Old Republic (1897-1929)
Based on an understanding of the relationship between cinemas and urban space, this article analyzes the role of the movie theaters in the process of changing habits and behaviors in the socio-urban context, driven by the ideals of &quot;order and progress&quot; of the republican movements at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries – defined, for the most part, by the Old Republic. The period under study was marked by modernization reforms aimed at changing the image of a colonial city, which Parahyba do Norte still manifested, and acted in favor of the "progress", impacting new urban customs. It also discussed the role of the press in promoting social transformations, in the propagation of discourses that encouraged so-called "civilized" habits and which, according to the periodicals, were more consistent with the moment of urban transformations. It is understood that cinemas composed a specific urban conjuncture of scenario creation, becoming symbols of progress and modernization in Brazilian cities.
Copyright (c) 2026 Elisa Beatriz Carneiro Oliveira, Marcele Trigueiro de Araujo Morais, Mariana Fialho Bonates 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