Branch of the Banco de Moçambique in Quelimane

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Branch of the Banco de Moçambique in Quelimane

The branch building of the Banco de Moçambique in Quelimane ( port.Edifício da dependência do Banco de Moçambique em Quelimane or Edifício da filial do Banco de Moçambique em Quelimane ) is located on Avenida Samora Machel 1039 in the center of the Mozambican industrial and port city of Quelimane . Francisco José Castro designed the building from 1962–64 as the then local branch of the Portuguese colonial bank Banco Nacional Ultramarino . After some difficulties during construction, the bank branch was opened on December 18, 1972. Until 1975 the building housed the branch of the Banco Nacional Ultramarino, since then the Mozambican central bank Banco de Moçambique has used the building for its local branch.

history

Quelimane, capital of the district (today province) Zambézia , was and is still an important port city for the rich and fertile hinterland of central Mozambique. The Banco Nacional Ultramarino opened its first branch in the city in 1902. The BNU acted as the financial administration of the colony in the Portuguese colony of Mozambique and was the most important commercial bank in this administrative area.

Planning and construction

Former seat of the Banco Nacional Ultramarino in Quelimane, today seat of the district court.

In the course of the settlement and urbanization of the Portuguese colony of Mozambique (1950s – 1970s) by European immigrants, the need also grew to establish new and representative branches for the Banco Nacional Ultramarino in the colonial area. In addition, the existing branch in Quelimane was considered much too small and often overcrowded. In 1950, the administration of the BNU decided to build a new building, but decided again the following year because the costs for a new building were too high. However, after a large swarm of bats nested on the first floor of the branch and made it unusable, the discussion about a new building started again. However, an architectural competition for the new building that was opened in 1956 failed again.

It was not until March 1960 that the bank's administration decided to award the design of a new building directly to the Mozambique-born architect Francisco José de Casto (* 1923) who lives in Beira . The latter published a preliminary draft in the same year, specifying it by 1962. In July 1962, the Quelimane city council approved the new building. Francisco Vieira Machada , Governor of the Banco Nacional Ultramarino in Mozambique, laid the foundation stone for the new building on August 11, 1964. The engineer João Cabral supported Castro with the structural planning of the building, and Mário Couto Jorge advised Castro on other technical aspects of the new building.

However, the first construction work did not begin until January 1967 and came to a standstill in August 1968, as the construction company Sofil went bankrupt in the wake of the economic difficulties of the colonial war . On February 3, 1969, the construction company Empresa Moçambicana de Empreitadas took over the execution.

The building was then opened on December 18, 1972 - a good seven and a half years after the foundation stone was laid. The bank started operations in early 1973.

construction

striking wall panel on the short side of the building, designed by João Aires

Francisco José Castro designed the seven-storey building in two parts: the ground floor and the mezzanine above it fill the entire area in width and length. Over these two floors, Castro arranged a considerably narrower, centered cube with six additional floors.

For the ground floor and the mezzanine level, Castro tried to keep the balance between concrete and glass in order to give the entrance hall (and thus the area with the public bank counters) plenty of light. He used the pan de verre made by Le Corbusier , directly embedded in the concrete. For the construction (2nd to 7th floor) Castro used the brise-soleils, which are widespread in modernist architecture in Mozambique , with the same regularity in order to provide the offices with sufficient shade.

The bank administration did not decide on the internal structure of the building until the beginning of 1973. The entrance hall with six public bank counters and the cash register were installed on the ground floor. The mezzanine floor above the entrance hall only served as a distribution level to the areas of the building above, which are not intended for the public. On the floors above, the bank set up the bookkeeping, correspondence management and the Economato . Above that, the “play room” (Centro Lúdico), a ballroom, a bar, a kitchen, a library and the management's office were set up. On the top two floors, apartments have been set up for the bank's senior staff. The total floor area of ​​the building was 5700 square meters.

Art under construction

Fountain behind the main building, designed by Jorge Mealha

In the course of the new building, some artists were given the opportunity to enrich the new bank branch with their work. Mention should be made:

  • Jorge Mealha , with a fountain behind the building
  • João Aires , with a colored panel with geometric patterns on the outer wall of the building and a Portuguese handicraft carpet (so-called " Wallpaper de Arraiolos "), made by the local company Fábrica de Tapetes da Zambézia , on display in the entrance hall
  • João Paulo , with a Keramil panel made by the Viúva Lamego company , on display in the ballroom ; as well as some oil paintings in the "Spielraum" (Centro Lúdico)

style

Francisco José Castro's design for the bank building was strictly - if not orthodox - based on the principles of architectural modernism after the Second World War. Not only the use of high-quality concrete and glass, but also the clear, functional design language of the building correspond to the principles of post-war modernism . The building is thus an example of Portuguese modernism in Mozambique.

The building of the bank in Quelimane is often compared to the Edifício Gustavo Capanema , the current seat of the Ministry of Education of the State of Rio de Janeiro, in Rio de Janeiro, as both are clearly similar in their formal language and rigor.

Todays use

Former main entrance to the building

The Banco Nacional Ultramarino branch began its business activities in the new premises in 1973. The building previously constructed in 1914 was taken over by the Quelimane District Court. In the course of independence in 1975, the Mozambican government founded the new central bank Banco de Moçambique , which took over all buildings and business areas of the BNU in Mozambique. The Banco de Moçambique still uses the building to this day and carries out the tasks of local representation and business activities for the central bank in Quelimane and for the province of Zambézia.

Only a few changes were made to the structure. Among other things, the counter hall was converted into a conference room and additional walls were installed. Externally, the building is still very close to its original state. The building is not a listed building, but is listed in the Portuguese monument database Sistema de Informação para o Património Arquitectónico , which also includes works by former Portuguese colonies, under the number 32131.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Ana Tostões (ed.): Arquitetura Moderna em África: Angola e Moçambique . 1st edition. Caleidoscópio, Lisbon 2014, ISBN 978-989-658-240-1 , p. 238 ff .
  2. ↑ a b c d e Miguel Costa: A presença do Banco Nacional Ultramarino em Quelimane. (PDF) Caixa Geral de Depósitos, December 2016, accessed on May 28, 2017 (Portuguese).
  3. ^ Tiago Lourenço: Edifício do Banco Nacional Ultramarino / Edifício do Banco de Moçambique. In: Sistema de Informação para o Património Arquitectónico (SIPA). 2011, Retrieved May 28, 2017 (Portuguese).

Coordinates: 17 ° 52 ′ 50.3 "  S , 36 ° 53 ′ 7.3"  E