ABSTRACT

During most of the 20th century though, economically stagnant and politically authoritarian, the only “modern” construction of buildings in Portugal were scattered examples of a neoclassical block-like fascist structures. The impetus for modernist architecture in the Portuguese-speaking world came not from Portugal but from Brazil, primarily with the inauguration in 1960 of Brasilia. That futuristic capital’s signature structures, the presidential residence, the cathedral, the Congress, and the Foreign Office reflected the influence of Le Corbusier as interpreted with lyrical, tropical exuberance by Lúcio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer. Aesthetically Portugal itself only became free to follow this style after the democratic revolution of 1974. Financially it only became capable of supporting a significant increase in building after admission into the European Union and the consequent growth of its economy.