Provisioning networks and descriptive memories of the funeral constructions of the historical heritage from the La Plata city

Abstract

On November 19, 1882, Pedro Benoit, seconded by the Senior Construction Masters of the Province of Buenos Aires, built a vault arch underground and covered the Foundation stone - brought from Azul - with bricks and mix using a solid gold spoon with eight brilliants on the ebony handle and a mahogany mix pan with ebony handles and gold inlays. This event inaugurated the construction stage of the city of La Plata. The urbanization process of the new capital of the province of Buenos Aires was characterized by rapid development and dynamism, accompanied by explosive demographic growth. Within this framework, an important commercial network was deployed characterized by the flow of construction materials both nationally and internationally. This work aims to account for the commercial circuits for the supply of raw materials used in construction during the founding stage of the of La Plata city between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th.

Methodologically, we worked with both archaeological and documentary sources, using the information from the records of private works corresponding to the La Plata Cemetery, which made it possible to cut the founding stage more strictly. In this sense, various mortuary contexts (vaults) of this first stage of the city's necropolis were analyzed, combining this information with that provided by the catalogs of civic and religious funerary art available for the time, which constitute an important patrimonial documentary source.