The heart of Dom Pedro I, who died in 1834, arrives in Brasília this Monday (22) and, on the following day, will receive a reception with the honors of head of state, which includes a search of the troops and ascent of the ramp of the Palácio do Planalto. . Afterwards, it will be on display at the Itamaraty Palace until the commemorations of the Bicentennial of the Independence of Brazil, on September 7.
The Brazilian Air Force (FAB) plane with the heart is expected to arrive at the Brasília Air Base around 9:30 am this Monday. It will be kept at the Itamaraty until Tuesday (23), when it will go to official ceremonies at Palácio do Planalto.
The head of ceremonial at Itamaraty, Minister Alan de Séllos, declared this Sunday (21), in a speech to the press, that “the heart will be received in Brazil with State honors and will be treated as if Dom Pedro I were alive among us.”
This means that the heart will have a riding escort by members of the Dragons of Independence, will review the troop and will go up the plateau ramp. The National Anthem and Independence Anthem, whose melody was written by Dom Pedro I, will be played.
At the ceremony, the heart will be carried in a protected container weighing about 9 kilos by the police chief of the city of Porto, in Portugal, and will not be visible to the public. When the heart reaches the Planalto, the President of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro (PL), will salute.
After the ceremony in Planalto, the heart returns to Itamaraty, where it will be the central object of an exhibition to be opened in the coming days.
In everyday life, the heart is not exposed to light. In Brazil, it will only be visible in a special window prepared by the Portuguese at the Itamaraty exhibition, even so, located in a room without natural light.
Before the exhibition opens, there will be a ceremony at Itamaraty so that diplomats in Brazil, parliamentarians and other authorities can visit the heart. Heirs of the imperial family were invited. The FAB Symphony Orchestra will play compositions by Dom Pedro I on the occasion.
On weekdays, the exhibition will be open to students, especially from the public school system in the Federal District. On weekends, it will be open to the general public, but prior appointment is required. Instructions must be made available on the Itamaraty portal. The heart takes off back to Portugal on September 8.
undisclosed costs
Brazil will be responsible for the travel expenses. The security of the heart will be carried out by the Federal Police, the Military Police of the Federal District, the Armed Forces and the Dragons of Independence, under the gaze of Portuguese authorities.
In this Sunday’s press conference, Brazilian diplomats did not inform the total cost of the operation. Alan de Séllos defended that the costs are “absolutely negligible” in relation to what the date represents and that the operation will use existing departments, such as the ceremonials of the federal government and the FAB itself.
“This is an intangible value. The importance I would say is transcendental. It is not every day that you have the opportunity to commemorate 200 years of the history of an independent state,” he declared.
Ambassador George Prata, one of the coordinators of the working group responsible for organizing the celebrations of the bicentennial of Independence, said that “a plane [da FAB] is like a car” and “it has to be used”.
“If it wasn’t being used now to go to Porto, it would be used to go somewhere else. Pilots need training. Extra costs are very small. I wouldn’t know.”
The FAB provided a plane that will bring the organ to Brazil and take it back to Porto on September 8. The heart will be transported in the passenger cabin, not as cargo, and will be accompanied by the Mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira, equivalent to the mayor of the city, among others.
The president of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, will not arrive in Brazil this Monday (22) with his heart. He will come to the festivities on September 7th of this year, but will only land in Brazil closer to the date.
The president of Portugal and the other heads of state of Portuguese-speaking countries were invited to the celebrations and should visit the heart at Itamaraty on September 6th.
Why was the heart embalmed?
According to Rui Moreira, in a text exposed in the room where the heart will be at the Itamaraty, before dying, Dom Pedro I asked his wife to donate her embalmed heart to the city of Porto as a thank you for the resistance of the population during the Siege of Porto (1832). -1833), which allowed his victory over his brother Dom Miguel, who at the time wanted to reign in Portugal.
The wish was fulfilled and the heart was given to the Porto City Council. The organ, however, is kept in the Church of the Irmandade da Lapa, in the Portuguese city.
The heart is submerged in formaldehyde-like liquid inside a glass container in an urn in the church’s main chapel, the text in the exhibit reads. The urn, in turn, is protected by five keys that open other protection steps before reaching the recipient.
Talks for the coming of the heart to Brazil began in February following instructions from the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos França, according to Ambassador George Prata.
The ambassador informed that the biggest concern of the Portuguese side in relation to the trip was related to the safety of the heart. One of the conditions imposed is that the car carrying the heart must always idle, for example.
The Institute of Legal Medicine (IML) of the University of Porto analyzed the possibility of sending and issued a technical report that the heart was not at risk, he said. After the report, there was still a vote to approve the coming of the heart in the local Chamber.
“These conversations were always very friendly,” said Prata about planning the trip of the heart.
Who was Dom Pedro I?
Dom Pedro I was responsible for proclaiming Brazil’s independence from Portugal on the banks of the Ipiranga River, on September 7, 1822 – political independence had already been announced in August. Before Prince Regent, he was crowned as Dom Pedro I of Brazil.
Dom Pedro I was born in the Royal Palace of Queluz, in the current municipality of Sintra, in Portugal, in 1798, but on November 29, 1807, at the age of nine, he embarked for Brazil with the royal family in flight from the troops. Napoleon Bonaparte’s French
His father, Dom João VI, returned to Portugal in 1821 because of the unfolding of the Liberal Revolution in Porto and the Portuguese dissatisfaction with the royal family far away. Pedro stayed in Brazil as Prince Regent.
Despite pressure, Dom Pedro I remained in Brazil and, after a series of frictions with Portugal, broke with the metropolis. The independence process took place gradually and it was not an absolute surprise at the time given the situation in place.
The reign of Dom Pedro I faced several crises and criticisms, such as the Cisplatine War, economic situation and marital infidelities. His brother Dom Miguel was even proclaimed King of Portugal by the Lisbon courts. Several factors, therefore, ended up culminating in Dom Pedro I’s abdication of the imperial throne in favor of his then 5-year-old son, later crowned as Dom Pedro II.
In July 1832, he disembarked in Porto and managed to defeat the forces supporting Dom Miguel. Dom Pedro I died on September 24, 1834 in Queluz, Portugal.
Source: CNN Brasil
