Centro Universitário Maria Antonia, Cultural center in Vila Buarque, São Paulo, Brazil
The Centro Universitário Maria Antonia occupies the former Liceu Nacional Rio Branco complex, built in 1930 on Maria Antônia Street in Vila Buarque. The main Rui Barbosa building and the Joaquim Nabuco building now house exhibition halls, the USP Theater, and the Carlos Reichenbach cinema room.
The University of São Paulo acquired the property in 1949 and established the Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters there until 1968. The building became central to student activism against the military government.
The center hosts the Gilda de Mello e Souza Library and presents art exhibitions that shape intellectual life in the city. The spaces are used by students and visitors to engage with contemporary artistic and academic questions.
The complex sits on Rua Maria Antônia in Vila Buarque, near Mackenzie Presbyterian University, and combines the former faculty buildings with the USP Theater. Visitors move between exhibition halls, the library and the cinema room within the same set of buildings. The main building was listed by CONDEPHAAT in 1985, and the other buildings were returned to USP from 1991 onward.
The building witnessed major student protests in October 1968 during the military dictatorship and symbolizes the spirit of resistance of that era. This role as a site of political mobilization shapes how people understand the place today.
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