This book is an update of the Task 1 report – data collection, inventory and contextualization, prepared by the Author in September 2020 as part of the Keeping It Modern Grant (KIM) initiative of the Getty Foundation in Los Angeles, USA. Before the KIM project began, there was already a significant volume of data collected by the Author in archival and bibliographic research, in interviews with architects and their families, and in situ observations and photographic recordings. An inventory in the form of a database made it possible to organize and crossreference all this information to support the interpretation of technical drawings and the proposal of partial syntheses in conferences and publications. All this information was mainly related to the architecture and urbanism of the Modern Movement in Mozambique during the colonial period, namely with infrastructure buildings and transport networks. The Beira Central Station, as well as its history and architectural and urban setting, were part of this broader research as an unavoidable case study.

As part of the KIM project, the following actions were carried out: archive research and photographic recording of technical drawings, reports and photographs at the Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino in Lisbon, at the CFM Museum and at the CFM Engineering Studies and Projects Directorate in Maputo, and at the Beira Central Station archive; bibliographical research in periodicals of the time under study, namely Diário de Moçambique in Beira, Notícias, and Boletim dos Portos, Caminhos de Ferro e Transportes de Moçambique in Lourenço Marques, among other publications; continuity of the photographic survey of relevant buildings of the Modern Movement of the same period, both in Maputo and Beira, and systematic photographic record of the Beira Central Station and its urban and port contexts; and graphic treatment and integration of all new information into the aforementioned database, which contains more than a thousand files on individual architectural and urban facts. (Excerpt from the Introduction, p.9)

The first two chapters of this book analyze the colonial policy of the Estado Novo and the evolutionary process of modern metropolitan architecture, from its appearance to its migration to the territories of the former overseas provinces; the two middle chapters address the modern architectural panorama in Mozambique, its authors, references and formal and conceptual characteristics; The final two chapters interpret the history of the enterprise, design, construction and significance of Beira Central Station, as well as describing and characterizing its built heritage.

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