Historic Center of Caxias do Sul

It comprises the region that was first urbanized, located around the Dante Alighieri square and limited by the streets Os 18 do Forte, Bento Gonçalves, Alfredo Chaves, and Moreira César.

The area chosen was crossed by ancient indigenous routes and, at one point, there was a large open field with water sources that was called Campo dos Bugres by the explorers who had previously traveled this region.

The intention was that the main urbanization of this region would occur where Flores da Cunha is today, but it ended up being concentrated around the center of Caxias do Sul, which grew fast and established itself as an important commercial warehouse, helping to supply the neighboring colonies.

[4][2][5] After some abandoned projects, on January 10, 1879, the Board of the Land and Population Commission approved a plan by Luiz Manoel de Azevedo for the urban center, idealized according to the Roman grid, where a layout of straight streets cross each other perpendicularly forming a chessboard.

The main focus in the first decades was the organization of the Dante Square and Rua Grande, where works for the flattening and lowering of the land began, a process delayed and complicated by the existence of a large quarry in the area.

[7][5] A leap in growth was made between 1909 and 1910 with the consolidation of the passage to Campos de Cima da Serra through the construction of the Korff Bridge and with the arrival of the railroad in the city, which linked Caxias directly to Porto Alegre and bypassed the neighboring municipalities of São Sebastião do Caí.

At this time Caxias already had an expressive agricultural and wine production, the industry was diversifying fast, and the city was getting ready to increase even more its old role of dynamic commercial warehouse, becoming one of the main economies of the state.

[10] In the first decades of the 20th century, newspapers, theaters, literary, artistic, political, social, sports and charitable associations appeared, and this flourishing was accompanied by an architectural and urban renewal in the center.

In a short time the General Plan became obsolete, requiring successive reformulations in the 1950s and 1970s to adapt to the intense population swelling that the city was experiencing due to the arrival of the residents from the countryside and other parts of Brazil, attracted by the wealth of Caxias.

Part of this phenomenon happened due to the massive repression of Italian ancestral memory during the Vargas era, when the federal government sought to form a new cohesive and unified national identity by deciding to eradicate all foreignisms.

During this period, even speaking in Italian became a crime; in fact, many cases of coercion, violence, and imprisonment of immigrants and their descendants who dared to manifest their ancestral customs and folklore were recorded.

[23][24] Another important initiative was the 1999 Organic Law, which determined that all buildings older than 50 years be submitted to a specialized analysis by the Municipal Council for Historical and Cultural Heritage if there were any intention of renovation or demolition.

However, today the center is already the object of academic studies and has been integrated into the city's tourist route, with scheduled tours and other activities that seek to recover the legacy of this region so full of meaning and that still preserves several important buildings.

This issue leads to the problem of so-called "restoration" practices that diverge from the standards consensually established in international heritage charters, of which Brazil is a signatory, but that are approved by the council.

However, in recent years several restoration projects, even for important heritage properties, have ignored legislation and internationally accepted practices, producing interventions that disfigure the original characteristics of the buildings, causing them to lose their authenticity through so-called "revitalizations" or "retrofits", which are in fact decorative or utilitarian modernizations that focus on adapting the building to a new use, usually commercial, without paying attention to its symbolic and documentary value and to the preservation of the authenticity of the ensemble, which are the central values in all international conservation charters.

[33][34] According to researcher Marcelo Caon, "the concept of revitalization goes in the opposite direction of document preservation and, instead of using it as an elucidative object of memories, social practices, and the misfortunes of urban expansion in certain periods, it gains a new meaning that generates a demand for services, leisure, and attributes values to certain groups".

[35] Another typical example of the utilitarian and market approach to heritage assets, disregarding essential documentary aspects, was the recent "revitalization" of the Metallurgical Abramo Eberle complex, which originally occupied almost a city block and was composed of several buildings.

In the Art Deco period, imposing business buildings were built, such as the old Metallurgical Abramo Eberle, the old Auto Palácio, and the second Banrisul headquarters, which still survive with some late modifications.

In the sacred typology, the city's most important monument - and the only one of its kind within the limits of the Historic Center - is the cathedral, a great example of Colonial Neo-Gothic inspired by Italian Gothic, austere on the outside and decorated internally with sophistication and wealth.