Urban representations and practices in the Sertões of São Francisco: The case of Petrolina Cathedral

Abstract

Built in the 1920s, the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus helped transform the image of the civilization city of Petrolina. Situated on the banks of the São Francisco River, the city was seen as a strategic place in the plans of the interiorization of the state in the First Republic. Understood as a sertãoregion to be civilized, many projects were materialized by civilization discourses: implementation of railway branches, irrigation projects, agricultural colonies, and navigability of the São Francisco River. Along with these proposals was also the project of a Cathedral, with its modern materials and constructive solutions and Frenchwise architectural forms, giving meanings of a civilizing idea in the city, which also led to a series of interventions in the urban form of Petrolina, such as opening of avenues, demolition of houses and properties and changes in the city centrality from the old Main church, to the region of the new Cathedral under construction. The purpose of this article is, therefore, to problematize from the perspective of Cultural History, the emergence of practices and representations taken under the meaning of civilization in the city of Petrolina in the 1920s from the construction of its cathedral, and in parallel with other civilizingprojects.