The present article covers a period of the political history of Nova Friburgo, a city in the mountains of the state of Rio de Janeiro, during the consolidation process of Brazilian republic at the beginning of the twentieth century. It focus the political group led by Galdino do Valle Filho who defended industrialists' and traders' interests. They developed the image of a "European" and "civilized" city as German entrepreneurs were starting to run the first textile factories in the municipality. The building up of such image had to cope with the tension between Nova Friburgo's formation, as a city colonized by the Swiss in the nineteenth century, and the strong presence of German immigrants in the city then. It was at this time that the image "Brazilian Switzerland" was created as part of the bourgeoisie's strategy to achieve hegemony. In fact, the city, came to consolidate its identity due to a contingency in the world panorama, shaken up by two world wars, at the end of which German participation was considered negative.
History of politics; ideology and power; Brazilian Switzerland; Nova Friburgo in the republic; bourgeois project