A praça João Pessoa: da terra ao mármore

Abstract

The current João Pessoa Square, in the capital of Paraíba, originated in the 16th century as Terreiro de Jesus, in front of the Jesuit buildings. In 1771, after the Jesuits’ expulsion, it became Largo do Palácio, the seat of the Captaincy and later the Province. In 1879, it was transformed into the Public Garden at Campo do Comendador Felizardo, with a fence and a bandstand later removed in 1928. By 1933, already named João Pessoa Square in honor of the state president assassinated in 1930, it received the Altar da Pátria monument, marking its political and memorial significance. Using documentary, iconographic, and bibliographic sources, this study analyzes the square’s physical transformations, social uses, and urban memory, highlighting its role as a symbolic space and a place of worship for the mythologized and heroicized João Pessoa.