Damaged canvases, labeled statues, smashed Louis XIV watch: the horde of Bolsonaristas that invaded the places of power in Brasilia looted everything in their path, including priceless works of art.
The three destroyed buildings, the Presidential Palace of the Planalto, the Supreme Court and the seat of Congress, are treasures of Oscar Niemeyer’s modern architecture.
The futuristic constructions with the emblematic curves of this brilliant architect are for many in the Unesco classification of the urban fabric of the Brazilian capital as a World Heritage Site in 1987.
The National Artistic Historical Heritage Institute “deplored”
Each of the three buildings, from which an impressive number of windows were broken, was also filled with rare furniture, works by great Brazilian modernist artists or others offered to Brazil by foreign countries.
In a press release, the National Artistic Historical Heritage Institute (Iphan) “deeply regretted the damage caused” and assured that an expert will soon be carried out to “evaluate the restoration needs.”
“Justice” labeled
The granite statue Justice, sculpted in 1961 by the Brazilian Alfredo Ceschiatti, is located in front of the Supreme Court, in the Plaza de los Tres Poderes, in front of the presidential palace. This monumental work of more than three meters high represents a seated woman, blindfolded and a sword in hand. On Sunday she was tagged, with the inscription “Perdeu, mané” (you lost, poor idiot), on her chest.
This expression was used by a Supreme Court judge, Luis Roberto Barroso, to address a Bolsonaro supporter who challenged him about the reliability of electronic ballot boxes in November, shortly after Jair Bolsonaro’s defeat against Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the Second round. of the presidential election.
Louis XIV clock
A watch made by Balthazar Martinot, watchmaker to the King of France Louis XIV, of Boulle marquetry, was found on the ground, on the third floor of the Presidential Palace, the brown and gold chest badly damaged, an open hole instead of the dial.
According to the Presidency, it was a gift from the Court of the Sun King to the Portuguese crown, brought by King Joao VI to Brazil in 1808, when he had fled from Lisbon before the arrival of Napoleonic troops.
This watchmaker has only made two watches of this type: the other, half the size of the one damaged in Brazil, is on display at the Palace of Versailles. The restoration of the example of Brasilia is considered “very difficult” by Rogerio Carvalho, responsible for the heritage of the Presidential Palaces, quoted in a press release.
modernist masterpiece
board mulattoes, by the painter Di Cavalcanti, one of the masters of Brazilian modernism, exhibited in the Noble Hall on the third floor of the Presidential Palace, was seriously damaged. The canvas dating from 1962, which represents four women in an exuberant plant decoration, was “stabbed seven times” by the rioters, according to the Presidency.
“Its value is estimated at 8 million reais (about 1.4 million euros), but this type of work usually sells for five times more at auctions.”
A historical table as a barricade
The “work table of Juscelino Kubitschek”, the visionary former Brazilian president behind the construction of Brasilia, the capital built ex nihilo in the middle of the savannah and inaugurated in 1960, was also damaged.
This dark brown table, designed by Oscar Niemeyer and his only daughter, Anna Maria, was toppled and used as a barricade by rioters to block law enforcement access, according to the Presidency.
Source: BFM TV
