Vicat finances the creation of an unpublished work by Athos Bultrais

Inaugurated on March 19th in the presence of the French Embassy in Brazil, Vicat, and the Brazilian company CIPLAN, this new mural, installed in the heart of the Lycée Français François Mitterrand in Brasília, celebrates Franco-Brazilian friendship through a work created using tiles designed by the Brazilian artist Athos Bulcão in 1979.

An unpublished drawing from 1979 — 46 years ago, at the request of Brasilia’s architect, Oscar Niemeyer, Athos Bulcão designed a tile mural created specially for the French School of Brasilia. This creation, at the time, was intended to celebrate the recent inauguration of the establishment, in 1973. Although it was designed for this location, the mural was never displayed until today. The artist did not like his original drawing in blue, white and red colors. He designed a new version, called “Tuiles” in ocher tones.

Conservation — For all these years, the original drawing was preserved by the Athos Bulcão Foundation, until this story could resurface and be told once again. The work, which is based on this drawing, uses the colors initially selected by the artist: blue, white, and red, the colors of France. Installed in the heart of the Lycée Français François Mitterrand, the panel measuring approximately 20 m² will remain on site and will become part of more than 260 works by Athos Bulcão scattered throughout the Federal District.

The France–Brazil Season — This original mural was conceived as part of the 2025 France–Brazil Season, an initiative championed by Presidents Emmanuel Macron and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to celebrate two centuries of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The project was led by the Embassy of France in Brazil, with corporate sponsorship from Vicat (France) and CIPLAN (Brazil), and the support of the Lycée Français François Mitterrand in Brasília.

According to Vicat CEO Guy Sidos, present specifically for this inauguration: “At VICAT, we also wanted to be part of this story unfolding between the two shores of the Atlantic and to place our own stone in the building. ”

About Vicat:
VICAT has been a leading industrial player in the field of mineral and bio-based building materials for 170 years. Vicat is a group listed on Euronext Paris (member of the SBF 120 index) and is majority-owned by the founding family. With the ambition of achieving carbon neutrality across its value chain by 2050, the company currently operates in three main business areas: Cement, Ready-Mix Concrete (RMC) and Aggregates, as well as complementary activities to these core businesses. Present in 12 developed and emerging countries, the cement group employs more than 10,000 people and achieved consolidated revenue of €3.854 billion in 2025. As a company firmly rooted in the regions it serves, VICAT is developing a circular economy model that benefits everyone, innovating daily to reduce the environmental impact of construction.
www.vicat.fr

Vicat media contact
Raphael Hinninger
07 61 74 86 52
Raphael.hinninger@vicat.fr