Adamo Boari

Adamo Boari was born in Marrara, near Ferrara, in 1863 and completed his studies in Bologna, graduating from university and becoming a civil engineer in 1886. Shortly afterwards, in the company of two friends, he set sail for Brazil where he soon began working on the construction of the Santos - Campiñas railway line.

In 1890, he sent drawings and plans for the first Italian Exhibition of Architecture from Brazil to Turin. He fell sick with yellow fever, moving to Chicago after his recovery.

His desire to return to his homeland waned when new job opportunities, his participation in the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, his diploma to practice as an architect and a number of projects for Mexico that he was commissioned to carry out between ‘97 and ‘99, prompted him to stay.

He was commissioned to design the dome of the parish church of Nuestra Señora del Carmen, the parish churches of Atotonilco el Alto and Matehuala and the Templo Expiatorio in Guadalajara.

In 1899, he moved to Mexico, where he designed a monument to Porfirio Diaz and participated in the construction of the Post Office Building, an expression of different styles, from Venetian to Plateresque.

He quickly became Mexico's top architect, winning some of the most prestigious projects, including the construction of the New National Theatre, now the Palazzo of the Fine Arts. To fulfil it to the best of his ability, he began a Grand Tour which took him travelling between Europe and the United States from 1901 to 1904 in search of the best studies and examples of theatrical architecture. 

In 1904, he returned from Chicago, where he visited the Factory of Frank Lloyd Wright, one of the greatest architects of the 20^th century school, and began directing work on the Theatre. The building is a self-representation of Mexican culture in harmony with foreign styles. It stylistically merges the pre-Hispanic, Aztec and Mayan past with modern architecture.

Today, the rooms of this splendid building are home to the Theatre of the Palazzo of Fine Arts Theatre, the National Museum of Art and the National Museum of Architecture.

Adamo Boari returned to Italy and died in 1928.

Story collected thanks to the collaboration with MIGRER.