Petropolis: The Imperial City

Today Eliseu and I ventured out of the city to visit Petropolis, the Imperial City, about an hour north of Rio in the mountains. It was the home of the emperor during the time of the Portuguese Empire, who had a palace there for the summer, since it is much cooler in the mountains than in sweaty Rio.

So we were good little travelers and got up early, but when we got to the bus station the line for Petropolis wrapped around the room. We waited for about a half an hour, and then got on the bus. It was a quick ride--about an hour--through windy mountain roads that were only slightly terrifying, since the views of the mountains and valleys were so beautiful. Then we arrived in Petropolis, where the bus terminal greeting read: GOOD TRIP (their translation for Boa Viagem, which means HAVE a good trip). Then we took a municipal bus down the windy streets into the center of town, and only with the aid of asking about 8 people did we find our way around the city, since the signage is absolutely terrible.

Entering the town on the municipal bus, we saw this store that sells coffins, and had a whole bunch displayed in the window. Much to my horror and to Eliseu's delight, the store had coffins designed entirely for the person's favorite football team: one for Botafogo, one for Flamengo, one for Vasco, etc, each one entirely white and decorated with the emblem of the team. A true, true testament to how deep soccer runs here.

Well anyway, the first thing we found was the Palacio de Cristal, the Crystal Palace. According to my guidebook, it was made originally as a greenhouse, but now I think they just use it for events, since there's nothing actually in it. So from there we wandered over to the Cathedral, which was closed, so then we wandered around Mansion Row, this street lined entirely with gorgeous mansions and palaces. We went to the grounds of Princess Isabel's house, which sadly has not been made into a historical point as much as rented out to some company and to an antiques dealer, but it was still beautiful.

From there, with some directions, we found the Imperial Museum, the summer home of the Portuguese emperors during the 1800s. There were ridiculous lines (we learned that these are inevitable on holiday weekends) but we finally got in. For reasons of protecting the artifacts and keeping the museum clean, I suppose, they make you wear these ridiculous slippers over your shoes, even little kids. So everyone sort of just glides and slides their way through the museum, much like awkward ice skaters. It was profoundly weird.

Anyway, the museum was great. It is in great condition and everything is impeccably maintained. They have remade furniture from the period, artifacts from the royal family including amazing gold and diamond jewelry, the scepter and crowns of the kings (one crown has over 700 diamonds), the royal robes of Emperor Dom Pedro II, some real furniture artifacts, including this incredible golden crib shaped like a boat with a huge scary eagle on one end, original instruments, paintings of the royals and of Rio from the period, and in one interesting  part, the gold, diamond and ruby quill that Princess Isabel used to sign the law of abolition in 1888. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the museum (another crazy rule of the museum) but I took a bunch outside and downloaded a bunch from the website, so you can find them on my new album (PETROPOLIS) and I'll put some here.

So, we followed this tour guide for awhile and we found out some interesting things. The emperor constructed a spiral staircase in the hallway outside his bedroom, which he ordered to be steep and narrow so that he would be the only one who could use it, since the women had huge dresses and petticoats that wouldn't fit. Also, according to the guy, you can tell how many males and females lived in a royal household by looking at the chairs in the main sitting room. Each chair with arms represents a man in the family, and each chair without arms a woman, since the machista men at the time didn't let women sit in chairs with arms so that they could sit properly amidst their many layers of dresses. Also, there was a large collection of beautiful fans, and apparently they were used by men and women alike. Men used them when having conversations with people, since they usually had bad breath and tried to "fan" away their bad breath.

So, let's talk about the royal family. Every royal family is a little ridiculous, and this family was no exception. Dom Pedro the First fled Portugal with the royal family when Napolean invaded, and moved the seat of the empire to Rio de Janeiro. Their main palace was in the city, while the one we visited was for the summer. I can't imagine how they got their in their little horse and buggies over the huge mountains on unpaved roads, but ok. Dom Pedro II became emperor when his father died, even though he was only 9, but didn't really take power until he became a semi-adult. In the usual fashion of royal families, he had to marry another royal person. He was shown a painting of Teresa of the Two Sicilies, another royal, and fell in love with her because of her beauty in the painting. They tied the knot before she actually arrived in Brazil (I'm not sure how), and then she arrived 2 years later. But much to Pedro's horror, she looked absolutely nothing like the beautiful painting, and was actually fat, hairy, ugly and had a limp. But according to historians, he fell in love with her in the end, won over by her personality and mutual love of culture. Meanwhile, their daughter Isabel turned out really busted too, and according to Historian Eliseu, she signed the Abolition Law in part because she had a secret slave lover, though I haven't found information to corroborate this.

So here are some pictures of the royal family.

Eli is standing in front of the Empress, and the lady next to him is Princess Isabel. As you can see, not the hottest of the bunch, but ok. The guy with the long beard is Emperor Dom Pedro II.

Dom Pedro II

the painting of Princess Teresa that made Dom P fall in love

what Teresa REALLY looked like.

If you'd like, you can take a virtual tour on the website. It's in Portuguese but all you do is click on the different rooms to see pictures. You can find it here.

After the museum we wandered around trying to find somewhere to eat because we were starving, and finally found a kilo buffet place and stuffed our faces. After that we had to pass by the chocolate shop my book mentioned, and we got a bunch of different kinds to try, including brigadeiro and pimenta (chocolate filled with hot pepper sauce-weird but good). Then we wandered down to this plaza to find some other stuff to see, and on the way ran into the place where they have carriage rides in old-fashioned buggies with horribly treated horses (and way overpriced rides). But the best thing ever, possibly all day, that we saw, was in the plaza. They have carriage rides for little kids, but instead they are tiny little carriages pulled by...goats. So there was this guy sitting around with about 7 goats hooked up to ridiculous little carts, AND, to top it off, one cart had a dog dressed up in a dapper hat, sitting peacefully in the front seat. Here are the pictures to prove it.

 

Yup. That is all real.

So after that we went to the Museum of Santos Dumont, the first guy to fly an airplane in the world and the inventor of the wrist watch. He built his own crazy house that looks like an oversized birdhouse in Petropolis, and you can tour it for R$5 which is way too much considering how little there is to see. What I enjoyed was the staircase to enter; the stairs are cut in such a way that you have to use your right foot first; he was supposedly very superstitious. He was also supposedly gay, but who knows.

So after that we went inside the cathedral, which has the mausoleum of the Emperor, Empress, and the princesses. It was quite creepy. The church itself was quite beautiful, with gorgeous stained glass windows. After that we walked down Mansion Row to get the bus to the bus station, where we caught another bus to Rio and then another bus to Botafogo. I've had enough of buses for awhile.

More fun pictures:

old fashioned imperial carriage

Mansion from mansion row

Comments

[carin]

What a great post! You need to keep putting in your own pix, because they make your stories come absolutely alive. The pictures are great--I feel as if I've already been there, without all the hassle!
MORE MORE MORE!!!
Love
Mom

[Giselle]

Just a little note on Brazil's history: the king who fled Portugal was Dom João VI. He had a son named Dom Pedro I who proclaimed the Independence of the country. Dom Pedro II was Dom Pedro I's son and it was him who had the Palace in Petropolis.