The musealization of the electricity industry in São Paulo: envisaging for hydroelectric power plants

Abstract

The preservation of industrial heritage has mobilized Europe and the United States since 1950. Brazil has been inZluenced by this trend, and some professional and academic segments have been alert to the issue of preservation. However, their actual achievements have been fewer than those in the Northern Hemisphere due to poor legislation and public policies focused on preserving material heritage. Worldwide, preservation is more intense and the valuing of preservation is caused by the demand for a public use of the in situ heritage. This article shows some initiatives aimed at the preservation and musealization of the power utilities’ industrial heritage and proposals about the potential for the musealization of the hydroelectric power plants built between 1890 and 1960 in São Paulo, as a contribution to discussions to interfere in preservation and museum policies. As a partial result of the Musealization axis of the Electromemory project, this article addresses issues relating to museum collections in cities located in the vicinities of the targeted power plants, as well as reflexions about the Energy Museum Network. This article also formulates a hypothesis about the museality of power plants in order to raise the problem of a heritage that is so complex and relevant and yet has been poorly considered so far.