Resumen de Building materials and technology apply to colonial religious architecture in Rio de Janeiro

Claudia Nobrega, Rosina Trevisan Martins Ribeiro

• The churches and other religious buildings are among the most important architecture works in the Brazilian colonial period. This paper intends to study the building technology applied to the religious colonial monuments. It also aims to recognise the materials, techniques and particularities related to local geography and buildings sites. Stones such as granite and gnaisse are largely applied on masonry and all kinds of stoneworks used on façades, walls and ornamental details that characterize Rio de Janeiro�s colonial architecture. Diversely, during the same period, �lioz� stone was used in Lisbon and calcareous rocks and sandstone were used in the costal cities of the Brazilian Northeast.

  The study of historical building technology is of overwhelming importance for contemporary restoration projects and for the specification of new materials compatible with surviving original ones. The knowledge of the physical properties of old and new materials and their suitability for restoration technology will contribute to the quality and the perpetuation of historical colonial monuments in Brazil.