Arquitetura Eclética em São Luís – MA: análise de exemplares e o significado desse movimento para a São Luís do início do século XX

Abstract

The present work deals with the practice of eclectic architecture in São Luís do Maranhão in the twentieth century, with an analysis of examples currently arranged in the historic center and observations about the changes that the movement brought to the capital. In view of this, a historical overview of the nineteenth century in Europe is initially outlined, approaching the arrival of the Industrial Revolution in England and the consequences for science and urbanism, as well as the emergence of historicism, since both are important events and precursors of eclecticism. From this point on, we seek to understand the eclectic movement through its conceptualization, the historical contextualization in which it is presented and the analysis of great European examples, in addition to portraying the Universal Exhibitions, stage for eclecticism, and the urban interventions of the period, through the Haussmann model in Paris. We then go through the Brazilian panorama with the arrival of the movement in the country and its consequences, to finally enter eclecticism in São Luís, through the historical contextualization of the city in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the urban interventions carried out and the insertion of eclectic architecture in a present traditional Portuguese architecture. The research seeks to understand the role of eclecticism in the capital in this period and, to this end, we catalogue examples from a section of the historic center, more precisely from Rua do Sol, observing the main characteristics of the buildings through photographs taken at the site. Books, articles, theses and dissertations are used for the theoretical basis, as well as image banks in websites for the illustration of worldwide eclectic examples. In this way, eclecticism is understood as an architectural representation that promotes modernity in São Luís - MA of the twentieth century, when the city aims for progress.