The Casa da Flor (House of the Flower), which is considered a masterpiece of spontaneous architecture in Brazil, must be preserved.

It was built, from 1912 on, in São Pedro da Aldeia, state of Rio de Janeiro, by a black, poor man who earned his living at the local salt-works and who hardly had any kind of formal schooling. Between 1923 and 1985, when he died, Gabriel Joaquim dos Santos, guided by his dreams and a fertile imagination, kept embellishing his home with the materials he would pick up at the local domestic refuse heaps and civil construction waste piles.

In order to preserve and make widely known Gabriel's house and his work, a group of admirers created, in 1987, the Society of Friends of Casa da Flor, currently Cultural Institute Casa da Flor, a civil, non-profit organization.

This site was set by the Institute in order to inform and attract new members as well as to encourage donations that may enable it to pursue the work so far undertaken.

All the materials shown here, including the pictures, are part of a research by professor Amelia Zaluar, who established friendly relations with the artist from 1978 down to his death, in 1985.