A Escola como Monumento: Semiótica, Ideologia e Formação na Educação Básica

Abstract

This study analyzes the ideological, pedagogical, and physical structure of the São Bento Monastic Complex in São Paulo, with particular emphasis on the Colégio de São Bento, through the lens of semiotic theory. Its aim is to understand the influence of Benedictine tradition on the history and historiography of Brazilian education, especially regarding the principles of discipline, labor, and spirituality. The research adopts a qualitative, historical-educational approach, grounded in the frameworks of Cultural History and Semiotic Analysis. It is configured as a case study, incorporating document analysis, on-site observation, photographic records, and semi-structured interviews. The corpus comprises primary sources (institutional documents, images, objects, and architectural features) and secondary literature on monastic education and school symbolism. Findings indicate that the Colégio de São Bento retains structural and symbolic elements of medieval monastic tradition, reinterpreted to meet contemporary urban and educational demands. Its architecture, liturgical objects, and spatial organization reflect a pedagogy of memory that shapes educational practices and subjectivities. However, tensions were also observed between the preservation of tradition and the need for adaptation to social, economic, and political changes. The study concludes that the Benedictine school environment operates as a pedagogical monument, in which materiality conveys values and ideologies. This reaffirms the importance of understanding educational spaces as symbolic and historical constructions that embody formative projects and ideological narratives.