Church of Saint Francis of Assisi

Last updated
Church of Saint Francis of Assisi
Igreja de Sao Francisco de Assis
Igreja da Pampulha
Igreja de Sao Francisco de Assis Jani Pereira (6).jpg
Church of Saint Francis of Assisi, Pampulha
Brazil location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Church of Saint Francis of Assisi, Pampulha
Location of Church of Saint Francis of Assisi in Brazil
General information
TypeChurch
Architectural style Modernist
Town or city Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais
Country Brazil
Coordinates 19°51′30″S43°58′44″W / 19.85833°S 43.97889°W / -19.85833; -43.97889
Completed1943
Affiliation Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Belo Horizonte
Technical details
Floor count2
Design and construction
Architect(s) Oscar Niemeyer

The Church of Saint Francis of Assisi (Igreja de Sao Francisco de Assis, commonly known as the Igreja da Pampulha) is a chapel in Pampulha region of Belo Horizonte, in the state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil. It was designed by the Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer in the organic modern style. It is the first listed modern architectural monument in Brazil and consists of four undulating concrete parabolas with outdoor mosaics. The interior hosts a mural by Candido Portinari, and the exterior features a landscape designed by Roberto Burle Marx. [1]

Contents

The curved lines of the church enchanted artists and architects, but scandalized the city's conservative culture. Despite its completion in 1943 and Juscelino Kubitschek's call for its consecration, the church was not consecrated until 1959. For 14 years, the ecclesiastical authorities, led by Antonio dos Santos Cabral, prohibited the chapel from providing Catholic services. [2]

As of July 2016, the church is classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, part of the Pampulha Modern Ensemble, a collection of Niemeyer buildings in Pampulha. [3]

History

The church was controversial from the beginning. The mayor of Belo Horizonte, Juscelino Kubitschek, was the patron of the project. Niemeyer said that he was inspired by the French poet Paul Claudel's statement: "A church is God's hangar on earth", but Time magazine wrote that the Archbishop of Belo Horizonte, Antonio dos Santos Cabral, saw it as "the devil's bomb shelter". [4] Archbishop Cabral opposed both its unorthodox architectural and artistic forms, particularly the mural behind the altar of St. Francis with a dog depicting a wolf, painted by Candido Portinari. [5] He proclaimed the church "unfit for religious purposes". [4]

A later mayor of Pampulha tried to have it condemned and demolished and when that failed, abused it by filling it with altars and monuments of various styles that did not fit the building.[ when? ] It was finally taken over by the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage. [6] After the church was refurbished by Niemeyer, Auxiliary Archbishop João Rezende Costa (Archbishop Cabral was in virtual retirement by then) finally agreed that the church has "great artistic significance and a spiritual atmosphere" and it was consecrated. [4] He consecrated the church in April 1959, saying "Now we can feel the wonderful art created here in homage to the Creator." [4]

Architecture

The chapel is considered the masterpiece of Niemeyer's Modern Ensemble at Pampulha. In this project, Niemeyer experimented with reinforced concrete, abandoning the architecture of slabs on columns and creating a parabolic concrete vault—a form until then only used in hangars. The concrete vault serves as both the structure and the enclosure, eliminating the need for masonry. With this project, Niemeyer started what would become the guiding principle of his later works: an architecture dominated by the plasticity of reinforced concrete in bold, unconventional, striking forms.

The interior features the Stations of the Cross, made up of 14 panels by Candido Portinari, considered one of his most characteristic works. Alfredo Ceschiatti carved the bronze bas-reliefs of the baptistery. On the exterior, the figurative art panels are by Portinari and the abstract ones are by Paulo Werneck. The exterior walls are covered in pastel ceramic tiles in shades of light blue and white, forming abstract designs. The distinctive landscape of the church is the work of Roberto Burle Marx, a longtime Niemeyer collaborator. [1] The little church of Pampulha is one of the most well-known "postcard scenes" of Belo Horizonte.

Heritage status

The Church of Saint Francis of Assisi has been recognized as a heritage site by the Minas Gerais State Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage (IEPHA-MG) since 1984, [7] the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage (IPHAN) since 1997, [7] and the Municipal Cultural Heritage Board of Minas Gerais. [8]

The Church of Saint Francis of Assisi became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July 2016. It is part of the Pampulha Modern Ensemble, a UNESCO-designated collection of Niemeyer buildings in Pampulha. [3]

Saint Francis of Assisi Church as seen from the Pampulha Lake Panorama Pampulha.jpg
Saint Francis of Assisi Church as seen from the Pampulha Lake

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oscar Niemeyer</span> Brazilian architect (1907–2012)

Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho, known as Oscar Niemeyer, was a Brazilian architect considered to be one of the key figures in the development of modern architecture. Niemeyer was best known for his design of civic buildings for Brasília, a planned city that became Brazil's capital in 1960, as well as his collaboration with other architects on the headquarters of the United Nations in New York. His exploration of the aesthetic possibilities of reinforced concrete was highly influential in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belo Horizonte</span> Capital city of Minas Gerais, Brazil

Belo Horizonte is the sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population of around 2.7 million, and the third largest metropolitan area, with a population of 6 million. It is the 13th-largest city in South America and the 18th-largest in the Americas. The metropolis is anchor to the Belo Horizonte metropolitan area, ranked as the third most populous metropolitan area in Brazil and the 17th most populous in the Americas. Belo Horizonte is the capital of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil's second-most populous state. It is the first planned modern city in Brazil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roberto Burle Marx</span> Brazilian landscape architect (1909–1994)

Roberto Burle Marx was a Brazilian landscape architect whose designs of parks and gardens made him world-famous. He is accredited with having introduced modernist landscape architecture to Brazil. He was known as a modern nature artist and a public urban space designer. His work had a great influence on tropical garden design in the 20th century. Water gardens were a popular theme in his work. He was deftly able to transfer traditional artistic expressions such as graphic design, tapestry and folk art into his landscape designs. He also designed fabrics, jewellery and stage sets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sabará</span> Municipality in Southeast, Brazil

Sabará is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Minas Gerais. The city belongs to the Belo Horizonte metropolitan region and to the associated microregion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Pampulha</span> Artificial lake in Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Lake Pampulha is an artificial lake located in Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Brazil. It is also the name of an administrative region of Belo Horizonte, and the name of one of 29 neighborhoods (bairros) within the administrative region of the same name. The lake was built in the early 1940s during the mayoralty of Juscelino Kubitschek, later president of Brazil from 1956 to 1961. Pampulha was created as a source of water for the city of Belo Horizonte, but quickly became polluted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Athos Bulcão</span> Brazilian painter and sculptor

Athos Bulcão was a Brazilian painter and sculptor. He was born in Rio de Janeiro.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gustavo Capanema Palace</span> Modernist office building in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The Gustavo Capanema Palace, also known architecturally as the Ministry of Education and Health Building, is a government office building in the Centro district of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As the first modernist project in Brazil, it is historically important to the architectural development of Modernism in Brazil and has been placed on Brazil's UNESCO tentative list.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Belo Horizonte</span> Catholic ecclesiastical territory

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Belo Horizonte is an archdiocese located in the city of Belo Horizonte in Brazil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alberto da Veiga Guignard</span> Brazilian painter

Alberto da Veiga Guignard also known as Alberto Guignard or Guignard was a Brazilian painter who became renowned for his depictions of the landscapes of Minas Gerais.

Pampulha may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pampulha (Belo Horizonte)</span> Administrative Region in Southeast, Brazil

Pampulha is an administrative region in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. It is one of nine administrative regions of Belo Horizonte, and occupies 47.13 kilometres (29.29 mi) in the northeast of the city. It has a population of 145,262 and a population density of 3.08 per square kilometer. The center of the Pampulha is occupied by Lake Pampulha, an artificial lake constructed in the early 1940s by Mayor Juscelino Kubitschek, later president of Brazil from 1956 to 1961. The Pampulha administrative region is further subdivided into 29 neighborhoods (bairros), one of which is also called Pampulha.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pampulha Modern Ensemble</span> UNESCO World Heritage Site in Minas Gerais, Brazil

The Pampulha Modern Ensemble is an urban project in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. It was designed around an artificial lake, Lake Pampulha, in the district of Pampulha and includes a casino, a ballroom, the Golf Yacht Club and the Church of Saint Francis of Assisi. The buildings were designed by the architect Oscar Niemeyer, in collaboration with the landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx, Brazilian Modernist artists, and engineer Joaquim Cardozo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pedregulho Housing Complex</span>

The Pedregulho Housing Complex is an apartment complex and planned community in the Benfica neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It was designed by the architect Affonso Eduardo Reidy (1909-1964). The project was planned in 1946 to house lower-paid civil servants of the city, which was then the Federal District of Brazil. Work commenced on the complex in 1949 and inaugurated in 1951/1952.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kubitschek Residence Museum</span>

The Kubitschek Residence Museum is a museum house located on the shore of Lake Pampulha in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The building served as the weekend residence of Juscelino Kubitschek, prefect of Belo Horizonte at the time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assunna Mosque</span> Mosque in Casablanca, Morocco

Assunna Mosque is a mosque designed by Jean-François Zevaco in a modernist architectural style in Casablanca, Morocco in 1966. It features brutalist architectural elements such as raw concrete. It is located at the junction of Blvd. 2 Mars and Blvd. Modibo Keïta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iate Tênis Clube</span>

The Iate Tênis Clube is a recreational club located on the shore of the Lake Pampulha in Belo Horizonte. Its building was designed by architect Oscar Niemeyer in the early 1940s, integrating the Pampulha Architectural Complex, recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site since 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pampulha Art Museum</span> Museum in Belo Horizonte, Brazil

The Pampulha Art Museum, formerly known as Cassino da Pampulha, is a building that is part of the Pampulha Modern Ensemble located in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The building was designed by the architect Oscar Niemeyer at the request of the then-mayor of the city, Juscelino Kubitschek, and is recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site along with the rest of the ensemble since 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Casa do Baile</span>

The Casa do Baile is an architectural landmark in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer. It is part of the Pampulha Modern Ensemble, a complex of buildings constructed around Lake Pampulha in the 1940s that represents some of Niemeyer's earliest works in his distinctive modernist style utilizing curved forms. The Casa do Baile was inaugurated in 1943 as a restaurant and dance hall for popular entertainment, though it had a short lifespan in that role. After years of alternate uses, it reopened in 2002 as an architecture and design center. Its fluid curves integrating with the natural landscape have made it an icon of modern Brazilian architecture, garnering protected status at municipal, state and national levels.

TV Itacolomi was a commercial television station licensed to Belo Horizonte, capital of the state of Minas Gerais, and owned by Diários Associados. Throughout its entire operation, the station was a Rede Tupi affiliate.

References

  1. 1 2 Hepner, Alexandre; Macedo, Silvio Soares (2016). "Landscaping Brazil: The Legacy of Roberto Burle Marx". Architectural Design. 86 (3): 118–125. doi:10.1002/ad.2054. ISSN   0003-8504.
  2. ↑ "Folha Online - Cotidiano - Igrejinha da Pampulha (MG) será novamente recuperada - 21/10/2003". www1.folha.uol.com.br. Retrieved Feb 12, 2020.
  3. 1 2 "Pampulha Modern Ensemble". UNESCO . Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 https://web.archive.org/web/20080508195847/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,811067,00.html "Fit for Prayer"]. Time . April 27, 1959.
  5. ↑ "Jornal da Globo". G1. Retrieved Feb 12, 2020.
  6. ↑ Stamo Papadaki. The Work of Oscar Niemeyer Second Edition. (New York: Reinhold Publishing Corporation, 1951), 93.
  7. 1 2 "Pampulha Modern Ensemble". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved 2020-01-17.
  8. ↑ "Folha Online - Cotidiano - Igreja São Francisco de Assis reabre após um ano em MG - 05/07/2005". www1.folha.uol.com.br. Retrieved Feb 12, 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.