In 1966, urban planner Lúcio Costa is outraged by the United States war in Vietnam.

• Handwritten letter from Lúcio Costa to Anthony Kraft.
• One page.
• In Portuguese.
• Letter: 16.2 cm x 22 cm. Envelope: 15.0 cm x 9 cm.
• 1966, Rio de Janeiro.
• Perfect condition of conservation.
• Single set.

Dear AK

Thanks, never mind, it's just that I forgot to flag Japan and Korea in my sketch. I apologize for keeping up these frivolous remarks while at this very moment we are killing people and destroying men's work in a filthy, immoral war in Vietnam.

LC, RJ, 25/?/1966

Pike Coast (1902 - 1998) is a world-renowned urban planner who designed, from 1957 onwards, the Pilot Plan of Brasília in partnership with Oscar Niemeyer, who in turn imagined the famous buildings of the Brazilian capital. Years earlier, Niemeyer, a young architect who had recently graduated, had asked for an internship to Costa . His official biography also mentions his direction of the National School of Fine Arts and IPHAN, and his intense collaboration with modernists, such as the renowned French-Swiss architect Le Corbusier.

Anthony Kraft was an editor of an architectural journal in Lausanne in the 1960s. Henri, one of our clients - and a great collector - thinks that "the letter refers to a discussion of a very interesting article by Lucio Costa that was published in the journal in 1967 where he talks about forms and functions (...)"

Unpublished manuscripts or personal correspondence of great personalities often reveal facts or even feelings and convictions that are not found in books. This is one of the delights enjoyed by lovers of rare documents.

This is the case of this letter in which Pike Coast tells a Swiss friend about a forgotten project involving Japan and Korea, in the midst of the United States' war in Vietnam: an immense frustration for the urban planner. The time was turbulent and this feeling was shared by millions of pacifists around the world, including great artists, scientists, athletes, etc.

The story is ironic, because few people know, not even the French, that Coast He was the son of a naval engineer - or diplomat, it is not clear - and was born in the south of France, in Toulon, the largest military port in Europe.

Letters of Pike Coast are very rare, this is the first one I have found in the last 10 years. It draws attention because of the strength of its content, obviously this impactful political opinion of the urban planner, but also because of the commentary on one of his works that made him internationally renowned.

In excellent condition, with its envelope and the official paper from the Minister of Education, this is a high-quality piece that a collector or an institution that studies or works with architecture should preserve. It enhances Brasília and also promotes peace in the world.