Over the course of the twentieth century, within a short span of time, the expansion of industry irreversibly transformed territories, communities, and age-old trades. In the Portuguese context, this accelerated rupture is connected to the revolutionary process and the change of regime, and is closely linked to labour struggles, for the defence of territory and for the claim to housing rights, occurring from the 1960s onward. Part of these dynamics is today inscribed (and at times silenced) in a scattered set of public monuments that bring together industrial progress, social struggles, solidarity, and collective memory. This paper proposes a comparative analysis, grounded in visual history, of three monumental complexes located in Barreiro, Setúbal, and Vila Nova de Santo André/Sines, understood as memory devices of industrialization in its economic and social dimensions. The three cities form a manufacturing triangle south of Lisbon, although they rest on distinct industrial and urban genealogies. In Barreiro, the urban configuration is deeply tied to the industrialization of the first quarter of the twentieth century, particularly to the production of sulfuric acid and superphosphates at CUF’s industrial complex, driven by Alfredo da Silva. His figure is celebrated in public space through a statue in the central square and a mausoleum built during the Estado Novo. From 1943 onward, CUF became the stage for prolonged strikes and workers’ struggles, now evoked by Vhils’s urban art intervention on the walls opposite the complex’s main entrance. In Setúbal was inaugurated in 1985 in Praça de Portugal, the city’s main gateway, a monument commemorating the first decade of the 25 April 1974 Revolution. The sculpture, by Domingues, Trindade, and Otero, simultaneously celebrates the post-revolutionary nationalization of companies in strategic sectors and the founding of the National Union Alliance (CGTP-Intersindacal). The colossal work made of bright coloured steel resulted from more than 3,800 hours of voluntary nighttime labour by workers from Setenave/Mitrena. Vila Nova de Santo André, a new town built from 1973 onward as a satellite of the industrial and petrochemical complex at the Port of Sines, also has a monument evoking the Carnation Revolution. With each anniversary, a red steel tube is added to the carnation-shaped structure, suggesting a symbolic convergence between the democratic path and the industrial progress. Not far away, in the centre of Sines, a discreet but significant plaque commemorates the “green strike” (May-June 1982), when fishermen and residents protested against pollution caused by Petrogal’s wastewater discharges. By situating these sites within their historical, political, and social context, the paper investigates meanings that are not immediately apparent, treating the monuments as active agents that produce and reiterate narratives of community, class, gender, and everyday tensions driven by industrial strategies and the unfolding idea of progress. In this way, the presentation contributes to a broader reflection on processes of monumental remembrance in public space and their role in the construction of collective memory in urban contexts.

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Industrial landscape,Memory,Public space,Territory,Labour Struggle

• Sociology - Social Sciences
• History and Archeology - Humanities
• Arts (arts, history of arts, performing arts, music) - Humanities