Cidade da alegria em meio à demolição: o Parque de Diversões da Exposição de 1922

Abstract

The International Exhibition of the Brazilian Independence Centenary, in 1922, is very important for the creation of the image of Rio de Janeiro as a modern capital. Not only for the great works that accompanied it – undertaken by Mayor Carlos Sampaio – but for the concentration of the various forms of entertainment characteristic of modern urban life that it housed in it's grounds: cinemas, theaters, train rides and hydroplanes, sports exhibitions and light processions, bars with live music and outdoor seating, light shows and machine demonstrations. It constitutes, like all Great Exhibitions, a single great environmental spectacle (ARONSON, 2018) enriched by the landscape of Guanabara Bay and the spectacle of the demolition of Morro do Castelo. Inside the fairgrounds, the main attraction, inaugurated with some delay, on November 22, 1922, was the Amusement Park, with electric rides that stimulated adrenaline - carousels, "rockets", roller coasters, cars on a “wavy” track -, in addition to optical and magic shows, faithful partners of cinematographers since their inception. The public exposure of agitation and nervous laughter, finally released to women in the public space, as addressed by Cláudia de Oliveira (2010), has become a fever of modern entertainment. But not only machines and illusions was made of fantasy. The facade of the park, aligned with Avenida das Nações, was 300 meters long, and was designed by Adolpho Morales de Los Rios. It was divided into three parts, with the central part recessed, forming a portico composed of three large arches decorated with masks 3 meters in diameter representing universal characters in literature, who made the history of laughter long before machines. To these classics, which could be recognized not only thanks to the theater, but also to the dissemination of the popular press, Morales de Los Rios made a point of joining characters from the indigenous and rural traditions of Brazil, corroborating with a moment in which the identity of the Nation. Inside, portals and stairs were inhabited by animals of the Brazilian fauna. In an ironic reference to the carioca characters that the urban works worked to expel from the city center, Morales de Los Rios chose as one of the 42 characters on the porch masks, the instigating popular type in the city: Bitú, a walker from the center who would have died buried in a flood on the slopes of Morro do Castelo. This work, based on a survey of periodicals and documentary collections, is a by-product of the research “Historical-Temporal Reconstitution of the 1922 Exhibition”, and intends to discuss the entertainment spaces in Rio de Janeiro in the transition to the 20th century, largely dominated by Companies Paschoal Segreto until the early 1920s (MARTINS, 2004) and the contribution of the Exhibition Amusement Park to the architectural design of large urban leisure spaces, where electric entertainment, optical illusion and theatrical performances coexisted.