Fernando Távora: Churches and Modernity in Portugal

Abstract

Fernando Távora (1925-2005), a renowned architect from Oporto, left a profound legacy, which includes religious projects that played a significant role in shaping the human and architectural profile of a master whose centenary of birth was recently celebrated by the HPA magazine. A devout Catholic since his early age, as documented in the recently published records of his youth diaries, Távora would find in Catholic religious commissions an initial and privileged space to investigate and explore modernity in a broad sense. Modern Churches at school, Modern Convent in the city, One lecture, Design exercises and real commissions, Working with the community is our proposal to highlight his contribution for modern religious architecture discussion. Throughout the 1950’s and 60’s Fernando Távora, as teaching assistant and later professor at Porto School of Fine Arts (ESBAP, Escola Superior de Belas Artes do Porto/Oporto), he proposed to his students design projects of religious nature that, in parallel, he was developing in his atelier. Távora was a member of the Movement for the Renewal of Religious Art (MRAR, Movimento de Renovação da Arte Religiosa) with continued participation since the 1950s. Having strong cultural and social concerns, he actively participated in both the continued renovation of the School and the responsibilities he assumed in the diocese of Oporto. We find him associated with social promotion work in the second half of the 1960s in Oporto’s Diocese, a commitment that he would continue through civic and political roles assumed after the 25th of April revolution, namely in the Local Ambulatory Support Service (SAAL, 1974-1975) operations.