The Paulistano Parnassus : history, architecture and decoration of the Municipal Theatre of São Paulo

Author(s)

Richard Santiago Costa

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas
• Defense date: 2017-09-12

Examining board members

Fernando Atique; Marcos Tognon; Alexander Gaiotto Miyoshi; Rodrigo Camargo de Godoi

• Advisor: Jorge Sidney Coli Junior

Abstract

This PhD Project has the Municipal Theater of Sao Paulo as research theme, loo-king for study it from three main axes: history, architecture and decoration. First, we will investigate the political origins of the opera house : the debates in the municipal and state sphere, the power brokers involved in the intense political scenery that unfolds in the period, the effects of the economic crisis during Encilhamento about its destiny and its constructive itinerary. After we will adress how the Municipal Theater transmuted itself into monument before its opening, charged with multiples symbolic meanings, defining somehow the mains urbanistic modifications at Vale do Anhangabaú. Lastly, we will study in details its architectural and artistic aspects, from its conception in 1900s until nowadays. After over one hundred years of existence and successive interventions (refurbishment and restores from the decades of 1950, 1980 and 2000), we believe it's critically important to investigate the process of its history and the artworks which complete it, in the painting form, sculptures, mosaics, stained glass, securities and several decorative elements. The Municipal Theatre, besides being part of the artistic Brazilian patrimony, is a living artistic organism which connects to Sao Paulo's transformations. Thus we propose a study about its perennial and changeable aspects. Its architectural set's knowledge, its artworks, its authors, its styles, its techniques, and its life through the time imposes itself to the deep knowledge of its role as architectonic and artistic landmark, and first order cultural scene of Sao Paulo city's and Brazil's (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 13/07599-5 - The Paulistano Parnassus: the physical history of the Municipal Theatre of São Paulo (1911-2012)
• Grantee: Richard Santiago Costa
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate