Paper short abstract:

Public monuments have come to embody one of the most effective ways of mythicizing personalities and events of the colonial narrative. The removal of these testimonies in Mozambique occurred during the Transitional Government (1975-1976) aiding the transition to other forms of knowledge and power

Paper long abstract:

The spread of monuments along the Estado Novo (1933-1974) was largely driven by propagandistic aims, bringing visibility to the State proclaimed historic and economic restoration of the metropolis, and to the so called 'civilizational action' in the overseas colonies. Unavoidably, the processes of political transition and decolonization brought new models and cultural aspirations. The old symbols of the colonizer had no place in the new cultural and political configurations of the emancipated State. The postcolonial appropriation mechanism led to a natural process of 'refunctionalisation' of the urban space and to the abandonment of many urban infrastructures (developed for a particular cultural, social and economic ambience, which found hard adequacy in the contemporaneous condition).

Lourenço Marques, current Maputo, was subjected to the removal of its most significant colonial memorials. At the end, all statues were removed, with the exception of the Monument to the fallen soldiers of the I World War at the Trabalhadores Square, as well as other minor memorials that can be found at the St. Francisco Xavier cemetery. The preservation of the I World War memorial may possibly be justified by its excessive weight or by its underlying symbolism. This is the only memorial from the colonial period in Maputo's heritage list.

In the late 1980's a new breed of statues has finally emerged in core places that once exposed colonial monuments, now paying tribute to the heroes of the national liberation struggle, such as Samora Machel and Eduardo Mondlane.