Heritage: two monuments in comparison in Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

The originality of this contribution, which wants to be inserted in the deepening
of the trend of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, lies in the interpretation of two monuments of the same region (the Monument park called “Berço da Imigração Italiana” and the national monument to immigrants in Caxias do Sul/BR,) erected in memory of the Italian migration, which represent two different ways of perpetuating his memory. Monuments, memorials and signs of various kinds are apparently created to fi x the time, “to defeat history”, as W.J.T. Mitchell said it. These objects work in multiple, often overlapping, ways; they could identify a site of historical importance (for example, a battlefi eld), commemorate a life lived (for example, a tombstone) or designate a sacred space (for example, a religious statue). How sites are marked for a special designation involves cultural politics of the meaning of features including wealth, gender, race, and power.