O patrimônio antes do patrimônio em São Miguel das Missões: dos jesuítas à UNESCO.

Abstract

This thesis aims at reviewing the patrimonialization process of the architectural remains of the Jesuit-Guarani Mission in São Miguel das Missões/RS, with the goal of outlining and discussing the context of its patrimonial activation. The hypothesis that guided this work is that the first action in the direction of patrimonializing São Miguel happened through a regional project still in the decade of 1920, thus before the Estado Novo period, leaded by SPHAN. Therefore, the discussion presents a regressive analysis starting by the most recent process, the registration of the historic site in the UNESCO list of World Heritage and the current patrimonial policies under development by IPHAN, returning then to the process of national heritage registration in the end of the 1930 decade and the use of the Missions in a political discussion with strong nationalist bias. While reviewing the patrimonial activation process that happened in 1922, when São Miguel das Missões was recognized as “historic site” by the Republican state government of Borges de Medeiros, this thesis also discusses the values attributed to the Jesuit-Guarani heritage in that time in order to reflect on their influences and changes that it suffered when facing the later processes and the current challenges. The patrimonializing action that happened in regional level before the existence of SPHAN is aligned with the return of the Jesuits to the region, which created a German immigrant colony in Serro Azul in the beginning of the 20th century. In this sense, it is observed that the Jesuits leaded the first patrimonial project, associating State, Church and science through the devotional and civic valorization of the material and immaterial remains related to the Jesuit-Guarani Missions. From this period the first entrepreneurs of the memory appear, such as the Jesuit Luiz Gonzaga Jaeger. Currently, other entrepreneurs of the memory with strong popular appeal can be identified, which promote the tourism, reactivate practices, beliefs and legends, create museological spaces, promote celebrations and either contribute or criticize the official discourses of the patrimony. This way, the study presented in this thesis shows that the patrimonialization processes in São Miguel das Missões, with more than nine decades of history and consecutive changeability in historical contexts, are social facts that constitute the collective memory of local communities.