Dissemination of Baroque Architecture within Brazil

I am researching the propagation of architectural and cultural ideas from Portugal to Brazil. Through the study of the dissemination of architectural ideas within Brazil upon the establishment of Portuguese architecture on Brazilian soil, I can address the variations developed in Brazilian Baroque that are distinct from Portuguese architectural developments. 

 

Initial research from the ARC 5013 Research Methods course has led me to the impression that the Conceicao da Praia church in Bahia, Brazil is the crux of the development of Brazilian Baroque. This impression is due to the fact that it was designed by a Portuguese architect and the majority of its materials, including ornamentation, were imported directly from Portugal. The Conceicao da Praia is the only Baroque church to use that degree of imported materials and can be seen as the first and only fully Portuguese church on Brazilian land.

 

The impact the Conceicao da Praia had on subsequent church design elements, particularly in the Minas Gerais region of Brazil, is notable. Although there are a number of design roots throughout Brazilian colonial churches, I hypothesize that the Conceicao da Praia was key to the development of design features that are uniquely Brazilian. Previously, architects could only create Baroque designs if they had the rare opportunity to visit Portugal to view and learn from precedents firsthand. I speculate that the construction of the Conceicao da Praia removed the need to travel outside of the country to see a precedent building and enabled the development of Brazilian architects.

 

I have done a preliminary assessment of numerous churches, both within Portugal and Brazil, to determine a broad sense of Baroque development. A broad selection of churches were reviewed for the following Baroque trends:

 

• Presence of Frescoes (Quadratura)

• Two-tower facade

• Pilgrimage Stairs

• Azulejos

• Octagonal Nave
   

From there I performed a preliminary analysis of the churches including the following:

 

• Time of construction

• Social make-up of region

• Economic forces

• Geography

 

After analyzing both Portuguese and Brazilian churches for these trends, I selected two churches for a case study: The Conceicao da Praia church in Salvador and the Sao Francisco church in Ouro Preto. Both churches are of notably different times of construction, regions, social make-ups, and geographies yet  had significant overlap in Baroque trends.

 

METHOD

 

I am utilizing comparative case studies between the Conceicao da Praia church in Salvador and the Sao Francisco church in Ouro Preto, including diagrammatic analysis of plan, façade, and quadratura ceiling, as well as a comparative urban and social historical analysis of Salvador and Ouro Preto.

 

FINDINGS

 

The two churches share a developmental bloodline, as seen in aspects of their plan, façade, and ceiling, though there are significant distinctions in all three realms. The urban historical analysis shows that the two cities developed distinctly: Salvador developed along the coast as a prime port city and Ouro Preto developed inland, starting as a mining town due to the discovery of gold. In terms of social demography, Salvador had a significant number of African slaves with a small proportion of Portuguese while Ouro Preto had a significant number of mulattos and African slaves with a small proportion of Portuguese.

 

PRELIMINARY CONCLUSION

 

From this evidence I infer that the Sao Francisco church’s design exists because of the Conceicao da Praia and their divergences in design are due to the differences in their city’s sources of income, social makeup, and geography.