RAILWAY STATION: “PLACE OF MEMORY” OF BRAZILIAN CITIES

Abstract

The cities that integrate (or were integrated) to the Brazilian rail network experienced a frank economic, social and cultural developments throughout the twentieth century, especially in the early decades. During this period the railroad was the most modern means of land transport and contributed to Brazil’s insertion in the new capitalist world order of international trade and promoted part of national integration, especially in the South and Southeast. Commercial activities - export and domestic markets - streamlined with rail and socioeconomic changes desired for the country had its beginning. With this reputation, which began with the call “beautiful Brazilian time”, the appreciation of the railroad and its symbolism was becoming a myth throughout history, and even with the decrease in share of rail in relation to the road, the notoriety of the “good times of the railroad” was recorded in the media, in the official history, in the memories of the railway workers and the people who lived with the trains. The railway stations are considered the most significant symbols of the net assets of the railway, they are places that concentrate this social memory. It was in the ticket sales booths in stations and boarding stations of the old trains that the train travels were materialized. This symbology, the monumental presence of these buildings in the landscape of the city and the mnemonic conjunction they provide were able to legitimate the railway stations as special places of society - “places-of-memory” of the Brazilian cities railway.