ABSTRACT
This chapter will begin with a review of some recent history. In 1978, a group of people met at Córdoba Cathedral – the most important historical monument in Argentina, dating from the eighteenth century – and resolved to replace its jewellery and original furniture with modern replicas. Their aim was to sell the monstrance – three kilos of gold and silver – the crozier, the jewels, tables, chairs, and everything else valuable. And this is precisely what they did: they sold all the pieces and replaced them with new ones. Then, in 1983, a municipal museum in Buenos Aires held an exhibition of the jewellery and the more valuable pieces and did not hesitate to declare the name of the collector who had purchased them. Meanwhile, in the magnificent cathedral, only simple and cheap copies of tin and coloured glass were left behind. . . .
