Saiba mais

• About
• Landi Antonio - The Artist
• Location
• Events Calendar

Salas

• Bologna Room
• Landi Room

Landi Antonio - The Artist

The Italian architect Antonio José Landi was born in Bologna, Italy on October 30, 1713. His parents, Carlo Antonio and Teresa Landi di Bartolomeo Guglielmini were traditional families in the academia. At 19, Landi was already a prize-winning pupil of the Clementine Academy in Bologna.

Soon after being decorated, Landi was admitted as a member of the Clementine Academy, at the suggestion of his master and protector, Ferdinando Galli Bibiena. He was then appointed Professor of Architecture.

In 1750, through an invitation by the king of Portugal, Landi sets off to Lisbon along with other foreigners, to integrate the Portuguese delegation to establish the boundaries between the domains of Castile and Portugal in America. After a waiting period in the Portuguese capital, Landi sails with the demarcation commission headed by Francisco Xavier de Mendonça Furtado (appointed governor of Grão Pará and Maranhão) to Belém, where he arrives on July 20, 1753.

In Belém, while the commission awaits for travel arrangements to Rio Negro, the architect devoted himself to assist the astronomer Brunelli in measurements, and started his observations on the flora and fauna of the Amazon. He then departs to the village of Mariuá in middle River Negro, where he remained until 1759.

Returning to Belém in that same year, he begins his activity as an architect and builder, an activity that endowed architectural works to the city’s landscape. For over 20 years Landi attends the completion of works on the cathedral of Belém, the nave of the church of the Convent of the Carmelites, the Chapel of St. John the Baptist, the Church of Santana da Campina, the Chapel of the Third Order of Carmo, the Palace of General Governors of Grão Pará, the mansion of Souza Azevedo, the residence of Alves da Cunha, and the Chapel of Murutucu Mill, among between works.

In 1784, in his seventies, Landi returns to the village of Barcelos (formerly Mariuá), Rio Negro, where he collaborates with the expedition of Alexandre Rodrigues Ferreira for studies in Natural History. On this occasion, he suffers some vascular problems and returns to Belém.

On June 22, 1791, José Antonio Landi dies, at 78, on his farm in Murutucu.