Monument to the Bandeiras


Monument to the Bandeiras is a large-scale granite sculpture by the Italian-Brazilian sculptor Victor Brecheret at the entrance of Ibirapuera Park in São Paulo, Brazil. It was commissioned by the government of São Paulo in 1921 and completed in 1954. It commemorates the 17th-century bandeiras, or settling expeditions into the interior of Brazil, and the bandeirantes that participated in them. The monument is huge and in a prominent location, making it an easily identifiable part of the landscape of São Paulo.
The monument was erected in the south-central area of the city in the Praça Armando Salles de Oliveira, opposite the Palácio 9 de Julho, headquarters of the Legislative Assembly of the State of São Paulo.

Controversy

The monument has been the subject of criticism for neglecting the darker side of the bandeirantes, who killed and enslaved many of the indigenous peoples of Brazil. While some of the income of the bandeirantes came from mineral wealth from mines, much more of it came from a campaign of enslavement that spread even across the border, attacking and kidnapping American Indians on Jesuit reductions as well. The monument regularly attracts vandalism, such as red paint symbolizing blood. Others have noted the high cost of a day to maintain and clean the monument of graffiti. In the wake of the toppling of the Statue of Edward Colston in 2020 as part of the global George Floyd protests, the monument has come under renewed criticism for its celebration of slavers and demands for its removal.

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