This article analyzes the main practices of cultural preservation in Brazil, specially those that concern the Western civilization, consecrated by the association of forms and principles of the baroque and the modern artistic production. This association is based on the notion of universality of the brazilian art and culture, shared by modernists such as Rodrigo Melo Franco de Andrade, Carlos Drummond de Andrade and Lucio Costa, functionaries of the Serviço do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional.
modern architecture; baroque; national identity; Lucio Costa; modernism; cultural patrimony.