Rodrigo Melo Franco

Rodrigo Melo Franco de Andrade (17 August 1898 – 11 May 1969) was a Brazilian lawyer, journalist, writer, editor and public administrator. He organized the Serviço do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional (SPHAN) and directed it from 1937 to 1967. The agency later became the Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional (IPHAN).

Under Andrade, SPHAN listed and restored buildings, prepared inventories and measured drawings, assembled document and photograph archives, created a specialized library, recovered works of art and opened museums. Its staff included writers, architects, historians and artists from Brazilian modernist circles, among them Mário de Andrade, Lúcio Costa, Manuel Bandeira, Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Oscar Niemeyer, Candido Portinari, Gilberto Freyre and Sérgio Buarque de Holanda.

Early life and education

Andrade was born in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, on 17 August 1898. He was the eldest son of Rodrigo Bretas de Andrade and Dália Melo Franco de Andrade. He was educated at home before entering the Ginásio Mineiro in Belo Horizonte.

When he was 12, Andrade moved to Paris and lived with his uncle, the writer Afonso Arinos. He completed his secondary education at the Lycée Janson-de-Sailly. Through his uncle, he met Brazilians living in or visiting Paris, including Graça Aranha, Tobias Monteiro and Alceu Amoroso Lima.

Creation and direction of SPHAN

In 1936, education and health minister Gustavo Capanema asked Mário de Andrade to prepare a plan for a federal agency devoted to the protection of buildings, works of art and other cultural property. Mário de Andrade and Manuel Bandeira recommended Rodrigo Melo Franco de Andrade to organize and direct the new agency. Andrade began the work in 1936 and formally became director when SPHAN was established in 1937. He remained in the post until 1967.

SPHAN was established in 1937, the year Getúlio Vargas created the Estado Novo. Its early staff included people from different parts of Brazil's political spectrum, including members of the left.

The agency gathered material from public and private archives, formed a photographic archive and a specialized library, and recovered paintings, sculptures and documents. It opened the Museu da Inconfidência in Ouro Preto in 1938, the Museu das Missões in Santo Ângelo in 1940 and the Museu do Ouro in Sabará in 1945. These were followed by the Museu do Diamante in Diamantina in 1954, the Museu da Abolição in Recife in 1957 and the regional museum of São João del-Rei in 1963.

Historian Márcia Chuva argues that Andrade and Lúcio Costa set SPHAN's early standards for listing and restoration through a modernist view of colonial buildings and religious art. They favored works judged to have exceptional artistic or architectural qualities.

Andrade also directed the Publicações do SPHAN series, which published studies of architecture, art, archaeology and protected buildings.

Two volumes of his writing were published after his death. Rodrigo e seus tempos: coletânea de textos sobre artes e letras came out in 1986, followed by Rodrigo e o Sphan: coletânea de textos sobre o patrimônio cultural in 1987.

Later years and death

Andrade retired as director of the federal heritage agency in 1967, after thirty years in the post. He remained a member of its Consultative Council until his death in Rio de Janeiro on 11 May 1969.

Rodrigo Melo Franco de Andrade Award

IPHAN established the Prêmio Rodrigo Melo Franco de Andrade in 1987. Presented across Brazil, it supports projects that protect buildings, objects, archives and cultural practices.