The origins of Brasilia’s preservation: new problems

Abstract

The discourses that gave Brasilia its recognition as a cultural heritage atribute their legitimacy to the past (such as Decree nº 10.829/87 which, by determining the rules about the city´s preservation, declares to be regulating a 1960 norm). Given that, this paper has the objective of critically analysing what would be the origins of the preservation of Brasilia: the request of Juscelino Kubitsheck, former president, to prematurely declare Brasilia a cultural heritage on the year of its inauguration; article nº 38 of the San Tiago Dantas law, that conditioned potential changes to Lucio Costa’s inicial plan to the Federal Senate’s authorization. I ponder that the questions that emerge from these beginnings were either not explored very much or were explored in a way that brought unclearness concerning the characters involved and their acts. In such a way, this text tries to revisit studies and investigate documents from the time, being able to offer new points of view and interpretations of these essencial moments  of the declaration of Brasilia as a historical cultural heritage, in which issues related to politics were mixed with technical decisions and proposals of preservation of the Federal District as a cultural object.