The Basilica of Our Lady of Luján: transculturation to the pampas of romantic sensibility and Neo-Gothic theories

Abstract

The work to preserve the Basilica of Our Lady of Luján and its site, enhancing its original values, occurred at a time and in a context shaped by late twentieth-century international cultural and scientific events. Those events have since redefined and changed both knowledge and working methods in art, science, technology and craftsmanship, and the response is to be seen in a reassessment of the built urban and architectural spaces inherited from the past. From that past, the ‘Gothic Revival’ was deeply rooted, particularly in France, Germany, the British Isles and Scandinavia, and strengthened cultural identities which became subjects of importance in the nineteenth century. In France, Eugène Viollet-le-Duc was the leading figure in restoring the vision of a mediaeval past to life, a fundamental part of his government's cultural policy. His writings, his new ideas about architecture, structure and construction, his work to restore France's Gothic heritage, would have a strong impact on future generations in different parts of the world, including Argentina. In this South American country, the French architect Ulrico Curtois, a former student of Viollet-le-Duc, would translate his romantic ideals and the Neo-Gothic theories of his Master to the constructed forms of the Luján Basilica: a Neo-Gothic monument in the Argentine pampas. Listed as a National Historic Monument since 1999, it is presently undergoing complete conservation and restoration after almost ninety years of neglect.