Odebrecht Sponsors Book About Jesuit Art in Brazil

The work is the result of the winning research project from the Odebrecht Historical Research Award – Clarival do Prado Valladares. Launched on December 14 in Salvador, the book is the 13th work launched by the award

Organized by historian Anna Maria Fausto Monteiro de Carvalho, Arte Jesuíta no Brasil Colonial – Os reais colégios da Bahia, Rio de Janeiro e Pernambuco (“Jesuit Art in Colonial Brazil – The Royal High Schools of Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, and Pernambuco”) talks about the activities of the order founded by Saint Inácio de Loyola. The book highlights three high schools that, due to their monumental dimensions, interfered with the urban planning of those cities in which they are located.

The high schools were studied from the perspective of an architectural and artistic analysis, which used specific methodologies from Art History and the Social History of Culture, together with a technical perspective study.

The project presents this Jesuit process of occupation, in which the high schools served as spaces for centrality and urban development, leading to the consolidation of the villages, the foundation of others, and cities on Brazilian lands.

The historian highlights the roles these high schools played as mobilizers of economic and social and cultural life and drivers of higher learned, geared primarily toward the training of new missionaries. The work reveals that most of the occupation of Brazilian territory is due to the action of the Jesuits and their arts, as part of the Portuguese reinforcement of colonization of the New World.

“Many theses end up stored away in drawers and closets,” said Carvalho. “The publication of this book will allow a higher number of people to have contact with this research effort,” she said.

Clarival Award

Arte Jesuíta no Brasil Colonial (“Jesuit Art in Colonial Brazil”) was the result of the winning research project of the Odebrecht Historical Research Award – Clarival do Prado Valladares. Launched on December 14 in Salvador, the book is the 13th work launched by the award, created in 2003. Each year, the cultural initiative of the Odebrecht Group awards an unprecedented research project that addresses a topic associated with Brazilian history. Odebrecht is responsible for providing the resources necessary for the complete execution of the selected project, from the research to editing of the illustrated book.

Marcelo Gentil, Head of Communication at Odebrecht in Bahia, recalls that the Group became a pioneer in adopting cultural sponsorship when it launched the book Homenagem à Bahia Antiga (“Tribute to Old Bahia”) in 1959. “One of the commitments of our Sustainability Policy is to help preserve the cultural heritage of the regions in which we operate,” said Gentil.