The Cultural Landscape Formation in Piracicaba Central Sugar Mill

Abstract

The Piracicaba Central Sugar Mill was founded in 1881, from the acquisition and installation of French machinery from the mechanical industry ‘Brissonneau Frères’. The assembly of the infrastructure was carried out by engineers André Paturau and Fernando Dumoulin with the most advanced technology in the period. It went into operation with 50 workers the following year, processing sugar cane from small and large suppliers. After going through two consecutive sales, it was acquired by French businessmen, under the new name ‘Sucrérie de Piracicaba’. With French capital, investments were made in infrastructure, expansion of the manufacturing plant and acquisition of agricultural area. In 1907 the ‘Societé de Sucrerie Brésiliennes’ - SSB was founded, which comprised six plants and until the end of the 1920s it was the largest and most important industry in the region. At the end of the 1960s, SSB was nationalized, changing its name to 'Usinas Brasileiras de Açúcar SA', operating until 1973, after two consecutive sales. The industrial plant, in line with industrial growth, received annexes and new constructions, which are constantly changing, but despite not being original, the industrial complex formed until the end of the operation of industrial activities is historically and landscapely representative. In 1989, the Central Sugar Mill remaining, including the forest, was listed as Cultural Heritage by the municipality and also expropriated to be used as a public park for cultural and leisure activities. Based on the identification and analysis of the elements through iconographic sources and remaining buildings, it is possible to see that the cultural landscape formed from a productive system is one of the most striking elements in the urban environment, already consolidated and considered an city icon in tourist and cultural character, because it combines the natural landscape formed by the Piracicaba river waterfall and the built landscape of a factory remnant.