Entre palácios e pavilhões: a arquitetura efêmera da Exposição Nacional de 1908

Abstract

On the occasion of the National Exposition that took place in Rio de Janeiro in 1908, some large structures – Palaces and Pavillions – were built, as well as a number of smaller ones, making up a grand ensemble characterized by predominantly eclectic esthetics. This dissertation studies the architecture of this Exposition, as a contribution to the study of turn-of-the-century architectural output in Brazil and particularly in Rio, where radical urban remodeling took place at the beginning of the 20th century. We include an overview of the World’s Fairs and an analysis of their conceptual framework and their architectural output, in order to place the Rio National Exposition in context and make relevant correlation and comparisons. We analyze the buildings of the National Exposition from the point of view of style, typology, and, where possible in spite of the paucity of relevant information, technique. The Exposition was short-lived (three months only) and almost all the buildings were subsequently torn down, which was not unusual for events of this type. Therefore our study is based on comtemporaneous documents, including descriptions, photographs, and other illustrations.