Do ‘Espírito em Arquitectura’ (1935) à ‘Arte Viva’ (1953): obras e pensamento em diálogo, Raul Lino e D. Manuel Cerejeira

The present article aims at reviewing the talk “Espírito na Arquitectura [Spirit in Architecture]”, given by Raul Lino (1879-1974) in Rio de Janeiro on May 30, 1935, and published in the book Auriverde Jornada (1937), establishing links with the “Pastoral sobre Arte Sacra [Pastoral Letter on Sacred Art]” of Cardinal Manuel Cerejeira (1888-1977), published on March 8, 1953, which had eco in the international press. Although barely considered in the history of architecture, the pastoral letter allows us to understand the depth of thought of the most significant “client” of Portuguese religious architecture of the twentieth century and who, leading the Lisbon Patriarchate for over four decades, between 1928 and 1971, would accompany the evolution of art and the political and social transformations of the country. From the work of analysis of both texts, we can highlight the timeliness of Raul Lino’s thought in the 1930s, which would influence the renewal of Portuguese sacred art in the first half of the 1950s. This article is enriched with material from the architect’s private archive, which reveals a broader framework of formal references, little known both in content and reasoning.