ABSTRACT
The city of Rio de Janeiro was founded on the margins of Guanabara Bay in 1556 and remained a small village until the 17th century, when it developed into an important commercial port. In 1763, Rio became the capital of Brazil, and in 1808 it was named the capital of the whole Portuguese Empire when the king and the nobility moved there, fleeing Napoleon. The city remained the capital of the Brazilian Empire after independence in 1822 and entered the 20th century as the capital of the Brazilian Republic (proclaimed in 1889) until the federal government moved to Brasilia in 1960. From 1930 to 1960, Rio was the core of Brazilian modernism while carioca (native of Rio) architects reshaped the whole country. Fortunately, inspired by the fantastic natural beauty of the city, this generation of modernist architects was able to give Rio some of the finest buildings of the 20th century.
