Cemitério da Irmandade da Santa Casa de Misericórdia
Porto Alegre (Rio Grande do Sul – RS)
Porto Alegre (Rio Grande do Sul – RS)
The city of Porto Alegre was originally inhabited by the Guarani indian tribe. In the 17th century the cattle dealer Jerônimo de Ornellas Menezes e Vasconcelos settled down in a small farm by the edges of Viamão pond, leading off the village. Porto Alegre had four different names before being considered a city: Port of Viamão (1732), Port of Dorneles (1740), Port of the Couples (1772) and Our Lady Mother of God of Porto Alegre (March 26, 1772). In 1808 it was made a town and in 1822 a city. The Holy House Cemetery was built in 1843 on the “Height of Azenha” by the General Luis Alves de Lima e Silva – The Duke of Caxias – due to the urgent need of having a new cemetery, as the former one was in the backyard of the Mother Church and was overcrowded.
It was opened in 1850 under the administration of the Holy House. Today the cemetery has eleven hectares of ground, including galleries with funerary niches; a noble wing for the tombstones and monuments and an area for ordinary people and beggars. It assembles a beautiful and rich collection of monuments which display marble, granite and bronze sculptures, made by local sculptors and sculptors from other parts of Brazil. One can notice that the European Funerary Art has strongly influenced on the historical wing of the cemetery.
The Holy House Cemetery is located on Oscar Pereira Avenue, Azenha district, Porto Alegre, with a total area of 10.4 hectares. The Azenha neighborhood is currently one of the most important trading centers of the city, but it is mainly known and famous for assembling the principal cemeteries of Porto Alegre.
Many illustrious personalities are buried in the Holy House Cemetery , who contributed to the history of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. We highlight the monuments of Júlio Prates de Castilhos, José Gomes Pinheiro Machado, Joaquim Maurício Cardoso, Otávio Rocha; Chaves Barcellos, Mostardeiro, Pereira da Rosa, Jose de Carvalho Bastos and Rubbo families; and also Commander Baptista, Baron of Cahy and Coronel Alfonso Emílio Massot.
This is the first public cemetery in the capital. The walls house catacombs which are destinated to the Brotherhoods, being a great part of the land reserved to the open air graves. They are set according to a uniform space system where the blocks are arranged like a mosaic. The cemetery accepts all social classes but its entrance – historical wing – congregates tombs and mausoleums of illustrious people of the city. That is why it became a tourist attraction in the city of Porto Alegre.
This is the first public cemetery in the capital. The walls house catacombs which are destinated to the Brotherhoods, being a great part of the land reserved to the open air graves. They are set according to a uniform space system where the blocks are arranged like a chess board. The cemetery accepts all social classes but its entrance – historical wing – congregates tombs and mausoleums of illustrious people of the city. That is why it became a tourist attraction in the city of Porto Alegre.
Cemetery is a cultural institution of the Western society. The preservation of its heritage is one way to legitimize it, as well as artistics and cultural activities carried on in situ.
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