Monumenta Program in Penedo (Alagoas, Brazil): Poverty as obstacle in the revitalization of the Cultural Heritage

Abstract

Penedo, city located in the south of Alagoas state, was overturned in 1995 by the National Institute of Historical and Artistic Heritage (IPHAN) and it is among the 26 Brazilian cities chosen to the development of Monumenta Program that aims to revitalize the cultural heritage, making it self-sustaining and promote cultural tourism. The paper aims to analyze how a political program is reflected in the daily lives and who directly suffer the consequences of its implementation. The analysis is structured by bibliographic and documentary review and semi-structured interviews with residents of the historic center of Penedo in order to identify the relationship they establish with the form of activation of cultural heritage promoted by the program. As a result, it was verified that the population was invited to participate in the process of revitalization of the cultural heritage and tourism construction in the city but they thought difficult to understand and accept the actions proposed by IPHAN and cannot get the demands represented in the execution of actions of Monumenta program. From the socioeconomic situation of the population were established different relationships with the cultural heritage and set unequal ways of space appropriation that compromise the goals of the Program and the sustainability of the public policy.