Soldiers in period costumes and procession: Brasilia welcomed Tuesday with great pomp the embalmed heart of Peter I, the first emperor of Brazil. The 187-year-old relic was received at the Planalto presidential palace by President Jair Bolsonaro and his wife.
Air Force planes formed a heart in the sky with smoke over the Three Powers Square, the epicenter of the Brazilian capital. The 9kg gold urn, which contains the monarch’s embalmed heart on loan from Portugal, was escorted by members of the Corps of Dragons of Independence, a sequence that is part of the celebrations of the bicentenary of the separation from Brazil from Portugal on September 7.
Peter I declared Brazilian independence in 1822. He established a constitutional empire, but abdicated nine years later and returned to Portugal, where he thwarted attempts to return to an absolute monarchy. After his death, his personality was celebrated in both countries as an advocate of liberal causes.
His heart remained in the Church of Our Lady of Lapa in Porto, Portugal, while the rest of his body was transferred to Brazil in 1972 and rests in an independence monument in São Paulo.
For the first time outside Portuguese lands, the relic has received the honors of a state visit to Brazil since its arrival on Monday. It will be exhibited at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs until September 8, before returning to Porto.
/ATS