The city of Rio de Janeiro, especially in the first decade of the twentieth century and its cultural environment are considered as key partners for this thesis, which is concerned to think three wide themes from the relationship between different actors and the city. The first bundle articulates three movements: an attempt in Rio, to seek the identity or specific features; recap some points presented in academic literature that most directly contributed to elaborate distinctions between the space of the capital and city places; and reflections on the possible links between projects of civilization, culture and progress during reforms led by President Rodrigues Alves and the mayor Pereira Passos, from differing views over the city and the capital. The second line works a ratio of four movements: first, the chronicler João do Rio and the city of Rio de Janeiro are placed facing each other as subjects, whereas both interfere with one another on the built each other s vision; in the three following movements, there are dialogues established between João do Rio and some of his contemporaries, watching the game waving borders between some of the systems of interpretation. The third and final axis consists of three movements: the first one interweaves the fields of photography and memory; the next inquires on the statutes that photography has taken since its appearance in the nineteenth century; and the third notes the job of the photographer Augusto Malta as a privileged spot to list the changes that happened in the city, so some photos of Central Avenue and snack bar sets are analyzed in order to distinguish, again, some views on modernity constructed in Rio.