Os monumentos funerários do Cemitério da Santa Casa de Caridade de Bagé e seus significados culturais: memória pública, étnica e artefactual (1858-1950).

Abstract

The main goal of this research named "The funerary monuments of Santa Casa de Caridade de Bagé Cemetery and its cultural meanings: public, ethnical and artefactual memory (1858-1950)" is to study the social aspects of the city memory engraved in the tombs and in the first division of the funerary field of this cemetery. The study started by searching to comprehend the treatment given to the dead in the christian traditional faith in the european continent as well as in Brazil. Therefore, it analyzes the meaning of the burial practices and the sepulchre monuments along the history, so that it can be possible to understand the meanings in the studied necropolis in the period from 1858 to 1950. In a second moment, in the Bagé cemetery itself, the potential for studying the memory of the city was analyzed. Three aspects were chosen: the public memory, the ethnical memory and the artefactual memory. This search brings to light different readings for the meanings: the heroism of the dead, the ethnical culture diversity and even the knowhow of the marble worker, in special, the performance of the Spanish marble sculptor José Martinez Lopes. Aiming to register and analyse the material characteristics of the tombs made by this marble artist, a catalogue was made containing 22 tombs with very detailed characteristics concerning to its architecture, style and attributes. Therefore, this work combines the social and the individual, showing the presence of ethnical aspects in the historical formation of the city and the performance of one particular artist.