Surrounding
the largest urban park in São Paulo city, named Ibirapuera Park, the projection
of a huge monument can be seen.
Aerial view of Ibirapuera park - photo by Prof. Percival Tirapeli
The monument,
that consists of an obelisk and a crypt, was projected by the Italian-Brazilian sculptor
Galileo Ugo Emendabili and executed in travertine marble by the German engineer
Ulrich Edler. The construction was inaugurated in 1995, just one year after the
park was opened. Preserved as historical heritage, the mausoleum of the obelisk
guard the bodies of the students killed during the Revolution of 1932 and 713
ex-combatants. To honor them and to preserve the memory of the rebellion, there
are biblical scenes and passages in the history of São Paulo made with
Venetian mosaics. Engraved in the building it is possible to see the initials
MMDC, that corresponds to the names Martins, Miragaia, Drausio and Camargo, the
four boys killed in conflicts of the Civil War, which is settled in São Paulo
in 1932 and led to the Constitutional Revolution.
The obelisk - photo by Dornicke
In general,
the Constitutionalist Revolution of 1932 is seen as an immediate answer to
the new direction taken by the national political scene under the command of Getúlio
Vargas, who decided to close the National Congress authoritatively.
In the year
1931, the collapse of coffee prices, as a result of the crisis of 1929 - the
crash of the New York Stock Market, impacted directly the coffee producers, particularly
the ones established in São Paulo State, generating a displacement of peasants
to the urban center. Social problems
caused by this scenario cooperated for mobilizing much of the population of São
Paulo, looking not for the interests of the old conservative politicians but for real democracy.
In May 23, 1932,
a group of young students tried to storm the headquarters of a newspaper
favorable to the Vargas regime. During the conflict - which had already taken
to the streets of São Paulo - students Martins, Miragaia, Drausio and Camargo
were murdered by a group of lieutenants. The initials of those involved in the
tragic event inspired the preparation of the movement known as MMDC, who
advocated armed struggle against Vargas.
These
deaths were the spark that started the Constitutional Revolution on July 9,
1932. With the help of the mass media, the movement won popular support and
mobilized 35,000 men by the side of São Paulo, against 100,000 soldiers pro-Vargas. It took
nearly three months of bloody battles, closed on October of that same year, when
São Paulo was isolated and defeated.
Historical poster convoking volunteers for the Revolution - photo by Renato Chauí
However, morally, the movement was a
winner, considering the federal
government called elections for a Constituent Assembly, which drafted the
Constitution of Brazil in 1934. It was also the first time in the country that
women participated in the electoral process, according to historians.
CURIOSITIES:
There are
several curiosities about the design itself considering the project was based
on numerical relationships, which always lead the observer to numbers related
to the date of the rebellion: 09.07.1932.
Aerial view of the obelisk - photo by Petria Chaves
The obelisk is 81 meters high, whose
square root is 9. Also the larger base in trapezoidal shape from the floor is 9
meters for whom looks forward to the monument. The smaller base, above, has 7
meters. The width of the crypt, below, is 32 meters. Anyone looking forward to
the profile of the plant would have the dimensions 32-9-7, which recall the
year, day and month of the start of the conflict. To enter the monument must go
9 steps. From the access, there are three groups of three arches each, totaling
9 arches.
From the
outside, the obelisk represents the image of a sword, with four faces, facing
each of the cardinal points of the city, planted in a square-shaped heart.
