Bronze group
An immigrant couple.
Giomandal — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Eugenio Hansen, OFS — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Giomandal — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Giomandal — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Gabriela Labatut — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Giomandal — CC BY-SA 4.0
The National Monument to the Immigrant stands at the entrance to Caxias do Sul on the BR-116 highway, in the heart of the Italian settlement region of Rio Grande do Sul's highlands, and is listed by the national heritage institute. It began as the initiative of a community committee that held a competition for the best design honouring the state's Italian immigrants, won by the gaúcho sculptor Antônio Caringi, creator of the Laçador statue. The cornerstone was laid in 1950, building began in 1951 and the work was finished in 1954, opening on 28 February that year, its bronze parts cast by the city's Eberle metalworks. A 1953 law changed its original purpose: it would honour not only the Italian immigrants but every group that helped settle and build Brazil, becoming a national monument. At its heart is a large bronze group of an immigrant farming couple, and beneath it the «Immigrant Museum» tells the story of the first settlers. It makes a stop on the way to Gramado or on a tour of the Italian colony region; check the museum's opening times.
An immigrant couple.
Beneath it.
The highlands.
Entrance to Caxias do Sul on the BR-116, Rio Grande do Sul
All the immigrant groups that helped settle Brazil, having first been meant for the Italians alone.