Cataguases can be explored through its architecture and art: modernist tiled surfaces, a sanctuary shaped like an airplane, and a museum housed in an Art Nouveau-inspired mansion offer distinct points of interest. For travelers interested in design and cultural history, these provide several thematic ways to explore the city. The focus ranges from modern architecture to the history of a company, so it cannot be confined to a single era.
Modern Architecture and Artworks
Cataguases has a rich collection of modern architecture from 1940 to 1960, including works by Oscar Niemeyer and other prominent architects and artists of the period. The Educandário Dom Silvério illustrates this focus: its modernist azulejo façade is dated 1954. The Educandário is described as an important work of Cataguases’ cultural heritage and also houses the mural “A Criação do Mundo,” created by Emeric Marcier in 1956. A tiled façade and a mural thus come together on the same building. The two dates are just two years apart, while each design foregrounds a different medium.
The Santuário de Santa Rita de Cássia offers a different architectural focal point. It dates from 1968, is shaped like an airplane, and its façade features an azulejo panel by Djanira da Motta e Silva. Compared with the Educandário, the difference is not just one of time: here, the airplane shape defines the building, while there, a modernist tiled surface and a mural bring together two different art forms. This offers several ways to look at architecture—through the building’s form, its façade, and the relationship between artwork and design.
Architecture and Corporate History
The Museu Energisa offers a different perspective. It is housed in an Art Nouveau-inspired mansion on one of the main streets in the center of Cataguases. Its collection covers the history of Companhia Força e Luz Cataguazes–Leopoldina through its development into Grupo Energisa. The architectural character of the mansion is thus combined with a collection on corporate history. The focus here is not on a single work of art, but on the development of a company. The museum therefore complements the architectural examples with another perspective on cultural history.
The panel painting “Tiradentes,” by Candido Portinari, was once in Cataguases and was originally created for Colégio Cataguases.
The dates make comparison possible: the collection of modern architecture spans 1940 to 1960; the Educandário façade is dated 1954, its mural 1956, and the Santuário dates from 1968. The examples therefore fall within the stated architectural period at first, with the Santuário extending beyond it. When choosing a theme, you can distinguish between a broad era and the individual buildings and artworks.
For an overview of the wider trip: Cataguases.
