[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 48 (Tuesday, April 16, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E530]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO DR. RICARDO ALEGRIA

                                 ______


                          HON. JOSE E. SERRANO

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, April 15, 1996

  Mr. SERRANO. Mr. Speaker, it is with great honor that I rise today to 
pay tribute to a very distinguished countryman, Dr. Ricardo Alegria, 
for his outstanding contributions to the investigation, preservation, 
and recognition of the culture and history of Puerto Rico.
  Dr. Alegria, is one of the pioneers who established the studies on 
archaeology, anthropology, and culture of Puerto Rico and the 
Caribbean. Yesterday, which was also his birthday, the Smithsonian 
Institution awarded him the Smithsonian Bicentennial Medal for his 
great legacy to Puerto Rican culture and history.
  Dr. Alegria is well known as a humble man, always accessible to the 
people, and a profound thinker in all his areas of inquiry. He is 
internationally recognized as the most distinguished Latin American in 
the field of preservation of historic cities and in the studies of the 
anthropology and archaeology of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean.
  His interest in the study of mankind and how humans identify 
themselves with their surroundings started at a very early age; as a 
child he opened a small museum at his home with pieces and little 
stones that he had collected from the ground at his family farm.
  He studied at the University of Puerto Rico, and obtained a master in 
archaeology from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in archaeology 
from Harvard. After his return to the island, young Dr. Alegria went to 
Loiza and Luquillo where he performed excavations that uncovered 
evidence of our earliest inhabitants, the arcaicos, and of the later 
Indians, the igneris.
  In 1955, Dr. Alegria became the director of the Institute of Puerto 
Rican Culture. Under his leadership, the institute enhanced the 
recognition of, strengthened, and promoted Puerto Rican culture as a 
heritage with Indian, African, and Spaniard influences, as well as its 
own folklore traditions. For his willingness to engage in the enormous 
task of investigating and compilating historical data on Puerto Rico 
and for the resurgence of the popular arts we owe him a great debt of 
gratitude.
  Some of his published works include the History of Our Indians 
(``Historia de Nuestros Indios''), Folkloric Tales of Puerto Rico 
(``Cuentos Folkloricos de Puerto Rico''), Anthology: the Theme of 
Coffee in Puerto Rican Literature (``Antologia: El Tema Del Cafe en la 
Literatura Puertoriquena'') and the magazine published by the Institute 
of Puerto Rican Culture, (``Revista del Instituto de Cultura 
Puertorriquena'').
  One of his most important accomplishments, for which he received the 
Picasso Gold Medal of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and 
Cultural Organization, is the restoration and preservation of Puerto 
Rican historical monuments. A very special award, the Picasso Medal has 
only been awarded to Dr. Alegria and to the historical village of 
Paris. Among the historical monuments that were restored under Dr. 
Alegria's supervision were the Indian Ceremonial Center, the Church of 
Porta Coeli, and the capital of Puerto Rico, Old San Juan, which is now 
a jewel among the historic sites of the Americas.
  Dr. Alegria is internationally renown as an eminence in the 
restoration of historic cities, as well as for his patronage of the 
arts. From directing the Center of Advanced Studies in Puerto Rico and 
the Caribbean, and founding the Center of Archaeological and 
Ethnological Investigations of the University of Puerto Rico, to the 
reorganization of a great number of museums in Puerto Rico, Dr. Alegria 
has left a legacy of devotion and dedication to the instruction and 
preservation of the Puerto Rican culture.
  Among other honors, Dr. Alegria received the Medal of Isabel La 
Catolica, awarded by the Spanish Government and the Medal of the Fifth 
Centenary of the Discovery of America and Puerto Rico, bestowed by the 
Puerto Rican Government.
  The Puerto Rican people and the Puerto Rican community, here in the 
United States and all over the world are in debt to Dr. Alegria for his 
outstanding contributions to the study, celebration, and promotion of 
our culture and history. In my congressional district of the South 
Bronx, and in all of New York City, as well as, throughout the 
Americas, we are all beneficiaries of his cultural heritage.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing the great 
contributions of Dr. Alegria, hero of the Puerto Rican culture.

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