Revista de Arquitectura (Bogotá) ISSN: 1657-0308 ISSN: 2357-626X Universidad Católica de Colombia, Facultad de Diseño y Centro de Investigaciones (CIFAR) Gutiérrez-Pinto, Darci Between Myth or Reality. Gustave Eiffel and San Marcos de Arica Temple Revista de Arquitectura (Bogotá), vol. 22, no. 2, 2020, pp. 69-77 Universidad Católica de Colombia, Facultad de Diseño y Centro de Investigaciones (CIFAR) DOI: https://doi.org/10.14718/RevArq.2020.2267 Available in: https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=125166907007 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System Redalyc More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America and the Caribbean, Spain and Journal's webpage in redalyc.org Portugal Project academic non-profit, developed under the open access initiative Between Myth or Reality Gustave Eiffel and San Marcos de Arica Temple Mito o realidad: Gustave Eiffel y el templo San Marcos de Arica Darci Gutiérrez-Pinto Universidad Alas Peruanas. Arequipa (Perú). Faculty of Engineering and Architecture Architect, Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería. Lima. Perú. IIntroduction Master with a specialization in history, theory and critic of architecture. Universidad Nacional de Inge- niería. Lima. (Perú). The subject submitted is part of a research on Doctor in sciences, with a specialization in housing, Universidad Nacional de San Agustín de Arequipa. Gustave Eiffel in Perú, done in the Documentary (Perú). Professor for undergraduate studies, with 17 years’ experience at Universidad Alas Peruanas (Perú). History methodology, for the Master’s in Archi- Professor for postgraduate studies at Universidad Nacional San Agustín de Arequipa (Perú). tecture of Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería, https://scholar.google.es/citations?hl=es&user=tGniaLEAAAAJ at Lima. This issue has been dealt with in arti- https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9135-1134 cles such as Despite Rumors, Not Everything That [email protected] Towers Is Eiffel’s, in the New York Times (Neu- man, 2014), as well as by independent research- Gutiérrez-Pinto, D. A. (2020). Between Myth or Reality. Gustave Eiffel and San ers, but, specially, by the Fondation Sociéte de la Marcos de Arica Temple Revista de Arquitectura (Bogotá), 22(2), 69-77. Tour Eiffel, in the document Eiffel en Amérique https://doi.org/10.14718/RevArq.2020.2267 du Sud Mythes et Histoires (s. f). The purpose of this article is to know about Gus- tave Eiffel’s presence and role related to the San doi.org/10.14718/RevArq.2020.2267 Marcos de Arica temple project. Since it has been history the one that has documented many events, as in this particular research, it is important to find Abstract out who the author of the said work is, which has The research is about Gustave Eiffel and its filiation with the Main Church of San Marcos, whose construction dates in 1875, being the city of Arica part of the Peruvian been classified as a national monument by the Min- territory, placing us between the years 1870-1890, when the Public Works of the istry of Public Works, Architecture Direction, File Government were the main objective of the state, being in charge of the Bureau of No. 65, in the Tarapacá region, Arica Province and Architects and Engineers of Peru, in addition to the information obtained in France Commune, Chile Government, according to Decree and the Fonds Eiffel, which are official documents donated by the family, as well as the No. 602 from the Ministry of Public Education dat- official page of the French engineer. It is concluded that Eiffel did not participate in the design and construction of the project, because the building was imported entirely by ed 04-10-1984, Monument No. 268, whose record the Government of Peru from the United States of America, with a complete prefabri- states: (…) was built in France, in Gustave Eiffel and cation system. These conclusions put an end to the myth that has been managed for Cía workshop, upon request by the Peruvian gov- years, from the construction of the church to the present ernment for the Ancón seaside resort.” Key words: Historical research; world heritage; monument; collective memory; On the other hand, Gustave Eiffel’s name has Resumen been associated to a vast number of works and Con base en la investigación sobre Gustave Eiffel y su filiación con el templo de San architectural and engineering projects which he Marcos, cuya construcción data de 1875, y cuando la ciudad de Arica aún era parte carried out throughout his life in various places del territorio peruano; teniendo en cuenta que la información obtenida se ubica en in the world. Perú is part of that exclusive map el periodo 1870-1890, momento en que las obras públicas del gobierno fueron el of countries that bear witness in their territory to objetivo principal del Estado, y a cargo de las cuales se hallaba la Junta de Arquitectos e Ingenieros del Perú, y la información obtenida en Francia a partir de los Fonds Eiffel the extraordinary work of the French engineer. y documentos oficiales donados por la familia, así como la página oficial del inge- But, as in other cases, there exist works whose niero francés, se concluye que Eiffel no participó ni en el diseño ni en la construcción authorship has been confirmed and others of del proyecto, pues la edificación fue importada íntegramente de Estados Unidos por dubious origination. Thus, Eiffel is at the same el Gobierno peruano, mediante un sistema de prefabricación en su totalidad. Dichos resultados ponen fin al mito que se ha manejado durante años, desde la construcción time a reality and a legend (López-García, 1989, de la iglesia hasta el presente. p. 92). Palabras clave: Investigación histórica; patrimonio cultural; monumento; memoria This study is part of a larger research whose colectiva; purpose was to determine which buildings Eiffel Recibido: septiembre 9/2018 Evaluado: febrero 5/2019 Aceptado: julio 8/2020 constructed in Perú, as well as to demonstrate Facultad de Diseño Vol.22 Nro. 2 2020 julio-diciembre 1 Proyecto A Mito o realidad: Gustave Eiffel y el templo San Marcos de Arica completely his creation, regardless of the con- same time, can be supported by later research struction system and the materials used, which that will allow other researchers to go on as of bear his authorship. There are other aspects to these findings by exploring all the data kept in take into account, such as the government’s Arica1, in Perú2 and in France3, as well as the one policy; incentives in terms of public works; and, which Gustave Eiffel’s descendants possess4. especially, to determine how the elements for the project subventioned by the government of Metodology José Balta – Peru’s president at the time – arrived in locations such as Arica. Research was done As a first step, a bibliographic and referential within the master’s thesis framework because, revision is made to have within reach the nec- as it has a historical background, it was essen- essary data and thus begin the real study result- tial to demonstrate the main hypothesis: to know ing from this evidential data gathering. Then, how a building so different from others of the the first decision made was that it had to be a same epoch was built: the Aduana [Arica’s Cus- documentary research, as this was the only way toms House] for example. Both are located in the to prove whether anyone took part in a specific same city, and the latter is the one which bears architectural project, how they did it, and when. all the proofs pointing to Eiffel’s authorship. On the other hand, Peruvian historiography The only documents used to start the research has not done, until now, a specific study on are, precisely, the official page of the Association the work of the famous Paris tower constructor. des Descendants de Gustave Eiffel which, should Therefore, this study is carried out as the first reg- we subject it to a serious historiographical pro- istry of Gustave Eiffel’s work between 1870 and cess, could show many defects. Besides, it may 1890 on Peruvian land, including the territories be possible to discover that what has taken place lost after the Pacific War. It is also known that the in our country has also occurred in others – that Arica temple is located in a place that is no lon- the French engineer’s myth is part of our culture ger part of the country; thusly, the data collected as many of Perú’s departments state that they had to be researched mostly from primary sourc- have an Eiffel work without any foundation or es, official documents, department archives, the proof, and thus are added up to the incalculable Board of Engineers and Architects’ Proceedings number of projects or works attributed to him. (public works records), official gazettes and pri- vate diaries of the time, memoirs and diplomatic The hypothesis to start with is to demonstrate documentation in Perú. that neither Eiffel nor his company had anything to do with the temple’s construction. Based on A second strategy was to visit all the depart- this, the research comprised diverse countries ment and regional archives, university historical and persons, including many researchers inter- files, and government and ministries’ libraries ested in the issue, as well as the major contri- and, more so, to consult the Historical Archive of bution by architect Pedro Guedes. Likewise, the aim was to contribute to the knowledge about 1 Historical archive of the House of Culture (ex. Arica’s Aduana), a place where many documents of that time Eiffel’s work. Thus, priority was given to the are found, including an original plane of the building’s need to have an in situ analysis to go over some façade, drawn by Casa Eiffel y Cia.