Resumo

GARCIA JIMENEZ, Selene del Carmen. The First Sculpture of Benito Juárez in Oaxaca’s Capital City Production, Relocation, Discourse and Resignification, 1872-1897. Estud. hist. mod. contemp. Mex [online]. 2024, n.67, pp.47-73.  Epub 05-Abr-2024. ISSN 0185-2620.  https://doi.org/10.22201/iih.24485004e.2024.67.77890.

During the office of Luis Mier y Terán, the public spaces of Oaxaca City began to be populated by sculptures representing local heroes. The figure of Benito Juárez García was the first to be eternalized in bronze. The aim of this paper is to investigate the political moment in 1885 when the sculpture was made by Miguel Noreña, the symbols found in the pedestal, the place the sculpture occupied as part of the public space in the Oaxacan capital, the controversy triggered by its relocation to Guelatao in 1895, the significance it acquired in its new spot and the new sculpture of Juárez, later placed in the southern city. The study of this case allows us to approach monument as another element deployed by governments, in this case, the government of Oaxaca, in my opinion, to secularize public spaces but also to construct a collective discourse about the history of the region through local heroes, a process that was occurring in other Latin American countries as well.

Palavras-chave : Oaxaca; public sculpture; Benito Juárez García; 19th century.