Monumentos religiosos em espaços públicos: simbologia, urbanidade e a construção da religião popular em sociedades seculares

Abstract

This research investigates the contradiction between state secularism and the presence of religious monuments in public spaces, taking as a case study the monument to Chofer Gregório in Teresina-Pi. Erected on a busy avenue, the monument transcends its memorial function, becoming a place of popular devotion and re-signification of urban space. This research used a qualitative approach, based on bibliographical research and analysis of reports on Chofer Gregório, which reveals that such structures defy secularization by blending faith, history and everyday life. The case demonstrates that the sacred persists not through institutionalization, but through community appropriation, transforming public spaces into points of convergence between the secular and the religious. The conclusion is that despite the advances of modernity, the sacred does not come to an end, but is reconfigured and adapted to the new scenario, showing a dynamic of “re-enchantment” where faith still endures in the social environment