The design for what was then called the Ministry of Education and Public Health was developed during 1936 by a team comprising architects Oscar Niemeyer, Affonso Reidy, Jorge Moreira, Carlos Leão, and Ernani Vasconcelos, under the coordination of Lucio Costa. At the request of the then-Minister Gustavo Capanema and with guidance from Le Corbusier, the team of young Brazilian modernists was tasked with giving a national identity to the building that would become one of the greatest icons of Brazilian architecture, in direct opposition to the dominant aesthetic of the time. The decision not to commission the original design, which had won the public competition held for this purpose, is just one part of this incredible story.
More than just a public building with administrative functions, the Capanema Palace—as the complex is known today—is a true repository of the finest artistic output of early 20th-century Brazil. Its innovative spatiality features sculptures by artists like Lipchitz, Giorgi, Menezes, and Adriana Janacopulos; paintings, frescoes, and tile panels by Portinari; and landscaping by Roberto Burle Marx. Yet, such a monumental manifesto of modernity did not emerge without first sparking political disputes and exposing ideological rifts among the country's leading intellectuals.
