The Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC), through the National Cultural Heritage Commission, declared the building complex made up of El Carrillón, the OSE tank and the Víctor Damiani amphitheater in the Dr. Alejandro Gallinal town a National Historic Monument. , of the department of Florida. The declaration is part of a “strongly decentralizing” cultural policy, said Minister Da Silveira.
The ceremony was witnessed by the director general of the National Cultural Heritage Commission, William Rey, and the mayor of Florida, Guillermo López, among other national and departmental authorities.
The declaration is part of a “strongly decentralizing” cultural policy, explained the head of Education and Culture, Pablo da Silveira. Currently, most of the distinguished sites are located in Montevideo and the metropolitan area, informed the minister. In this five-year period, work is being done to recognize and honor the set of heritage elements present in the interior of the country, he pointed out.
For Da Silveira, these buildings are the testimony and material representation of an important era. He added that the area was the heart of productive Uruguay: the golden age of wool in which the systematic use of fertilizers began, a time of large-scale construction of housing and rural schools. “It is an essential time to understand Uruguay today. And this area was the epicenter ”, he valued.
The building complex
The buildings are located at kilometer 142 of Route 7, in the town of Alejandro Gallinal, also known as Cerro Colorado. For the technicians of the National Cultural Heritage Commission, these are three architectural pieces that highlight the existing heritage.
The chime was specially brought from Holland, it is made up of 23 bells and is located in a 35-meter-high tower next to the system to activate it. Also, there is a working clock on the ground floor. It is a unique element in the country and one of the few of its kind in America.
For its part, the Víctor Damiani amphitheater bears the name of the consecrated baritone, who was invited in 1962 to a charity recital. Meanwhile, the tank is considered a testimony of the time when the construction of the water reservoir for the Cerro Colorado people began, in 1953, a year after the creation of the State Sanitary Works (OSE).
