Igreja de Santo Antonio da Polana . Maputo . 1962
Just a few minutes from home, in the Polana area, between pointless low buildings partly reconverted for diplomatic uses, public spaces forgotten by the public and what’s left of large avenues, is a concrete strange object. The object happens to be a church built in 1962 and if you ask around about the name of the architect nobody really can tell. What hits you is the simplicity of the shape, which looks more like a folded piece of paper than a concrete building. Despite the fragmentation of the surfaces, the movement is one and it runs either from top to base or the other way around, bringing to the believers the same old message but adding one direction. Inside and outside follow exactly the same rules, creating what seams to be a pure geometrical exercise. But once you’re done with all this geometry and you start feeling the space, then you realize that it’s really not just an exercise.
I don’t know how many of you will have a chance to visit it, but if you happen to be in Maputo it really deserves a few minutes of your time…and it’s absolutely reachable by foot.
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