Argentine businessman José Salomon Altstut, known as Pepe Altstut, didn’t quite know how to tell Pelé that he had commissioned a project to honor him after his death. It was December 18, 2018.
Owner of the vertical cemetery Memorial Necrópole Ecumenica, in Santos, Altstut had already given the former player in 2003 a locule for his family –where today his father, Dondinho, and brother Zoca are– and 15 years later he turned to the Spanish artist Hugo Garcia for a farewell worthy of the King of football.
He received with good humor the approval of his personal friend since 1970 for the construction of the space.
“I made the project and Seu Pepe liked it at the time, but he said it was still a secret. He was uncomfortable talking to Pelé about it. When he told him, Pelé took it easy and even made a joke: ‘just don’t come and ask me for an autograph there, okay? I want to rest,'” Garcia told Sheet.
The mausoleum where the body of the King of football lies, buried last Tuesday (3), was planned just over four years ago and assembled in 2020 – during the Covid-19 pandemic. Subsequently, under lock and key.
The 200 m² space has not yet been opened to the public for visits, but it arouses enormous curiosity. Initially, journalists could record only the door that gives access to the place, with two life-size statues of the former player.
The works at the entrance measure 1.73 m each, weigh 130 kilos and were sculpted in brass by Hugo Garcia. They are part of six commissioned by Pepe Altstut before he died on March 25, 2021, following complications from Covid-19. He didn’t see the last tribute to his friend.
Altstut’s initial project with Garcia was even more audacious: making 1,282 statues of Pelé, the number of goals he scored in his career (the total number of times the King scored is the subject of debate), and spreading them around the world . The pandemic has cooled the idea.
“Seu Pepe wanted to do a pharaonic work: more than a thousand statues around the world. But the pandemic came and we would have a long negotiation with the Pelé Company, so the project ended up readjusted”, says the artist.
Inside the mausoleum, all covered on the floor by a synthetic lawn simulating a football field, there are images of fans glued to the wall.
The tomb is lined with mirrored golden aluminum plates and four panels made by Garcia with a mixture of fiberglass and bronze powder. Two portray a goal by Pelé and two others the famous celebration with a punch in the air.
In the four corners of the tomb, of the same material, there are angle brackets. They have different shapes: they start with the planet Earth at the top and have details such as the Jules Rimet cup, a crown and a shirt with the number ten. They end on a soccer ball.
In addition, there is a reproduced sky above and Carrara marble finishes. Inside the mausoleum, a shirt from the Brazilian team and another from Santos.
The statues were also placed in the space intended for journalists who worked on the roof. According to Santos Futebol Clube, 1,120 professionals from 31 countries were involved.
The making of each one of them takes, on average, one week and costs BRL 70,000 for the casting alone – in addition to the amount previously agreed upon for the work with each plastic artist.
the confection
The procedure used by Garcia to make the statues is called lost wax, a technique chosen for lighter pieces or those with greater detail. Despite their overall weight, the statues are hollow.
Production starts with the model sculpted in clay, based on photo references and research.
From this model, silicone molds are made, which faithfully copy the details of the sculpture. They are divided into several parts, as the oven does not hold the actual size of 1.73 m.
After that, a layer of approximately four millimeters of wax is brushed, creating a kind of negative.
A compound of bentonite, coal dust, gypsum, water and other elements is poured over the wax to rigidly reproduce the structure to be cast. Taken to 500ºC, only the wax melts and leaves room for the brass.
Brass is melted at 1,300 degrees and poured, filling all gaps to form the part.
“I gained Pelé’s trust because we made a sample, a statue that is there at his house, in Guarujá”, he reports.
The artist already has four other statues of Pelé and announced that he will soon sell them to interested parties. He will also open space for visitation in his studio, located in the municipality of Lagoinha, in the interior of São Paulo.
“My idea is to make Lagoinha a second tourist spot in the month. I will welcome tourists to see my works and enjoy my restaurant”, he explains.
Hugo Garcia is also the author of the famous statue of the King on channel 5, in front of the A Santista bakery, a well-known stronghold of Santos fans. The work is older, inaugurated in 2011.
In addition, the artist also has other monuments of famous sportsmen, such as that of the athlete João Carlos de Oliveira, João do Pulo, in Pindamonhangaba, 8 m high.
In Santos, at the Arena Santos gymnasium, he is the author of the sculpture with the busts of former boxers Éder Jofre, Miguel de Oliveira and Acelino Popó Freitas, world champions. His father, Luis Garcia Jorge, has dozens of productions throughout Santos.
The Memorial has not yet officially announced when it will open the site for public visitation.
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