Natal, une ville baroque au nord-est du Brésil

• Main Author: Rubenilson B. Teixeira
• Format: Article
• Language: fra
• Published: Université Paris 3 2001-12-01
• Series: Cahiers des Amériques Latines
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/cal/6650

The studies of the city as a baroque expression are fairly recent in Brazil. Besides, the majority of them are dedicated to the most important urban centres of the colonial period, which gather, for that reason, a greater number of interesting elements allowing this approach. The data about them are available in greater quantity as well. This article constitutes a small contribution to the studies of this nature. However, we analyse the city of Natal, the capital of the State of Rio Grande do Norte, in Brazil, especially at the 18th century. The interest of the present survey results precisely from the fact that we are dealing with a small town. We intend to show that the manifestations we could call «baroque» are found also in the less important localities, with their own specificity. In order to do it, we analyse the city of Natal according to two criteria, the uses of the urban spaces and the urban form, that is its physical space. In both cases, the city allows a baroque approach of itself. We do that by situating, briefly, the two criteria in the general context of the colony as a whole.