Cemitério da Saudade
Campinas (SP)
The early settlement of Campinas is associated with the opening of trails westward from São Paulo to the hinterlands of Goiás and Mato Grosso. One such trail, opened between 1721 and 1730, was named “Caminho dos Goiases”. Soon an inn was established on the side of the trail that offered lodging to tired, hungry mule-drivers traveling between the settlements of Jundiaí and Mogi-Mirim. This hostelry became known as “ Campinas do Mato Grosso”, an allusion to the three relatively small treeless meadows amidst the nearby dense forest.
Campinas was officially founded in 1774, when Captain-General Dom Antônio Luiz de Souza Botelho Mourão, governor of the captaincy of São Paulo, signed various bills, including the one that legally created the district of Conceição de Campinas.
The Saudade Cemetery, founded on October 10, 1880, in fact is a burial complex that comprises another five adjoining cemeteries: the Curas D’ars (for yellow fever victims); São Miguel e Almas (for Catholic blacks); Terceira Ordem do Carmo and Santíssimo Sacramento (for Catholic whites), and São José. The Saudade Cemetery may be considered an “open-air museum.”
Campinas stnds out as one of the fastest growing cities in the state of São Paulo, in southeastern Brazil. According to an estimate by the Secretary of Planning of the Township of Campinas (//www.campinas.sp.gov.br), its current population of about one million earns US$ 5,800 per capita.
Timeline:
- 1722 – Opening of the trails known as “Caminhos dos Goiases”, leading to the mines in the region of Goiás.
- 1722 – A first cemetery was precariously operational in the region. However, there was not a church in which to conduct religious cults and that, at the same time, would serve as place of congregation for the population of small farmers that lived in properties scattered in the region.
- 1767 – According to the census, the rural district of “Campinas do Mato Grosso” holds a population of 185 inhabitants.
- 1773 – Authorization was granted for the building of the local mother church, and this meant the religious independence of the settlement. However, administratively the community remained dependent on the township of Jundiaí.
- 1774 – Morgado de Mateus, the then governor of the Captaincy of São Paulo, agrees to the foundation of a district and established a few basic urban planning criteria for its construction. Francisco Barreto Leme is considered the founder, director and administrator of the district of Conceição de Campinas.
- 1774 – A first mass is celebrated in the village on July 14 by Fr. Antonio de Pádua, the first vicar of the newly created parish. July 14 was adopted as the official date of the foundation of the currently renamed city of Campinas.
- 1797 – The district is formally promoted to the status of village dismembered from Jundiaí and renamed São Carlos.
- 1842 – The village is given status of township under the name of Campinas, given that its former name of São Carlos was never popular among the local population.
- 1879 – The House of Representatives rules the transfer of the cemeteries located alongside the railroad to a site at some distance from the city center.
- 1880 – Dedication of Saudade Cemetery, a complex that incorporated the four preexisting cemeteries in Campinas, all of them run by the Roman Catholic Church and now secularized.
- 1880- The “Campo da Alegria” (field of joy) is the place destined for the burial of non-Catholic blacks.
- 2005 – The company SETEC (Serviços Técnicos Gerais de Campinas) is assigned the management of the Saudade Cemetery.
The Saudade Cemetery is a public graveyard, run by the city administration, which follows the model of secularized cemeteries comprised by blocks and sub-blocks giving access to avenues, lanes and paths. It is located in the Swift district. In the past this was the exit to the city of Valinhos. Currently the cemetery is overpopulated with 318,000 interments in 32,000 tombs scattered in 181,500 square meters of land.
The most notable personalities in the history of the city of Campinas are buried at this cemetery. Among the family mausoleums, the tombs of Eleonor Penteado, Francisco Glicério, João Francisco de Andrade Franco, Baron Geraldo de Rezende and Hercules Florence (pioneer of photography in Brazil) and the chapel mausoleums of Bento Quirino and the Baron of Atybaia are particularly remarkable.
An investigation is under way to ascertain whether the administration building of Saudade Cemetery, built in 1899, was designed at the office of architect Ramos de Azevedo, in São Paulo. The artistic and historical significance of Saudade Cemetery mausoleums, chapels and tombs dated from the 19th century and early 20th century is commendable. Many of these monuments were imported from Italy, such as those built by sculptors and marble workers Giuseppe Tomagnini and son; others were made in Campinas by the Velez Family, Brothers Coluccini, and Fernando Martinelli and Brothers. The styles of the handsome grave markers include neo-classical, art nouveau, art deco, and modern. The wealth amassed during the coffee boom sponsored all monuments that symbolize and reflect the taste of the coffee bourgeoisie.
- SORIANO, Cica. Arte tumular faz da saudade museu a céu aberto. Campinas: Jornal Correio Popular, 27 julho 1991.
- ELUSTRA, Halima Alves de Lima. A arte funerária no interior paulista: O Cemitério da Saudade de Campinas. Research Project, 2004.
Sites:
- //www.campinas.sp.gov.br/setec/cemiterio_saudade.html (Sourced on december 2004)
- //www.campinas.sp.gov.br/ (Sourced on december 2004)
- //www.psg.com/~walter/campinas.html (Sourced on december 2004)
Credits:
- Coordination and research: M Elizia Borges.
- Website design: Catu Design, 2008.
- Researcher: Adriana M. Gianvechio Carvalho – CNPq.
- Photography Adriano Rosa, 1991.
Contact:
- maelizia@terra.com.br
- CEMITÉRIO DA SAUDADE.
- Praça Voluntários de 32, S/n Bairro Campinas – SP CEP 13041-900.
- Phone: +55 (19)3234-6132, 3234-4181 ext. 23.
