Los monumentos y sitios del Ejército de los Andes: Materialidad, representación y uso social de un patrimonio histórico-militar del valle de Aconcagua, Chile

Abstract

Since the beginning of the 19th century, with national Independence processes, the Latin American States began a process of self-construction from relating symbolic, with which is honoring the homeland through the recollection of events and glorious characters. The construction of monuments is an essential device to settle that imaginary homeland since then until today. In this context, this study seeks to identify and analyze the monuments and sites associated with the Army of the Andes Crossing, a Latin American epic that has left a vast heritage materiality, in particular, in the Aconcagua valley in Chile, where the greater part of this legacy. Next to it, this study seeks to determine the historical, allegorical and legendary representations that evoke these monuments and sites, as well as the current uses of this historical military heritage, setting forth a national historical memory, a factor of local identity and an element of economic development.