PETROPOLIS

Two months out of St Petersburg we are back in imperial territory!

Petropolis, founded in 1843, was built and populated at the behest of Dom Pedro II, emperor of Brazil. It is only some 50 km from Rio de Janeiro, at that time the capital of the country, but being up in the forested mountains it was a pleasant, cool retreat for his summer palace. The palace, now the imperial museum, is a genteel country house, and would fit easily into a small wing of Catherine’s palace!


The rest of the city centre, nicely laid out around canals, consisted of the mansions, large and small, of the nobles and worthies of his court and of Rio high society, who moved up with the emperor for their summer holidays.



There was also colonization by Germans and other Europeans, which gives the city an un-Brazilian feel. There is a neo-gothic catholic cathedral from 1884, where Pedro and others of his family are buried, but the oldest church is a Lutheran one from around 1860.

Pedro had no sons, but the strong woman of the family was his daughter Princess Isabel – we came across her trail in Penedos. She acted as his regent when required and was mother to the heir presumptive – who of course never came to the throne as Brazil became a republic in 1889.

Petropolis has attracted a variety of settlers of different kinds: we saw the house where Stefan Zweig lived (and finally committed suicide) after leaving nazi Germany, and the site of the house where Gabriela Mistral, the Chilean poetess, lived for a time.

A major figure of Brazilian politics at the end of the C19th and early C20th was the lawyer Rui Barbosa, who also ended his days in Petropolis – his house still stands opposite the Lutheran church. He was involved in the political machinations which led to the fall of the monarchy and in the drafting of the new constitution.


Up the hill by our hostel we found a huge ‘palace’, built in 1944 as the biggest hotel and casino in South America (I would guess with money smuggled out of Germany). The casino went broke, the top floors were sold off as flats, and the place staggers on with a restaurant and as a venue for weddings and other events. We had a very nice buffet lunch there…



Magda made some new friends in the hostel... a cockatoo

and a cuati.



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Hace dos meses que dejamos St Petersburg y estamos de vuelta en territorio imperial!

Petropolis, fundado en 1843, fue construido y poblado a la voluntad del imperador de Brazil, Dom Pedro II. Está a unos 50 km de Rio de Janeiro, entonces capital del país, pero estando en la montana era un sitio fresco y agradable para su palacio de verano. El palacio, ahora el museo imperial, es una casa de campo muy linda, y cabería fácilmente en una ala pequena del palacio de Catalina la Grande!

El resto de la ciudad, organizado alrededor de una red de canales, consistió de las mansiones, grandes o chicas, de los nobles y dignos de la corte y de la alta sociedad del Río, quienes se desplazaron junto al imperador para pasar el verano allá. Hubó también una colonización importante por parte de alemanes y otros europeos, lo que da a la ciudad un toque poco brasilero. Existe una catedral católica del ano 1884, donde está enterrado dom Pedro, con otros de su familia; mas la iglesia más antigua de la ciudad es una Luterana, de alrededor de 1860.

Pedro no tuvo hijos, y la mujer fuerte de la família era su hija, la Princesa Isabel – habíamos cruzado su camino en Penedos. Ella actuaba de regente cuando fuera necessario y era madre del heredero – quien, por supuesto, nunca fue imperador, ya que Brazil se convirtió en república en 1889.

Petropolis ha atraído una variedad de ahuachados de varios tipos: vimos la casa donde Stefan Zweig vivió (y finalmente se suicidó) después de arrancarse de la Alemani nazi, y el sitio de la casa de Gabriela Mistral.

Un personaje importante de la política brasilera de cien anos atrás era el avogado Rui Barbosa, quien terminó su vida en Petropolis – su casa existe todavía, frente a la iglesia Luterana. Estaba involucrado en la caída del imperio y la preparación de la constitución de la nueva república.

Cerca de nuestro hostal encontramos un enorme ‘palacio’, construido en 1944 como el hotel-casino más grande de América del Sur (supongo con plata ‘extraída’ de Alemania). El casino quebró, los pisos superiores se vendieron como departamentos, y el negocio sigue cojeando como restorán y centro de eventos. Fuimos a almorzar en el restorán…