São Paulo – East Jerusalem saw on Thursday (1) the launch of the photo exhibition “The Visit of Brazil’s Emperor Dom Pedro II to the Holy Land” and a documentary on the topic. The show can be visited from Friday (2) to January 9 at the Austrian Hospice in Jerusalem, with free entrance. The exhibition is held by Brazil’s Representation Office to Palestine, in Ramallah, in commemoration of Brazil’s independence bicentennial.
The show is an invitation for visitors to go through holy sites and landscapes in Palestine through the eyes of the emperor. Dom Pedro II, who was a Christian, was the first head of state of the Americas to ever travel to the Holy Land in 1876. According to the organizers, he visited holy places of the three monotheistic religions and showed curiosity for Palestine’s human, historical, cultural and geographic aspects.
The exhibition venue is a tourist site that doubles as a hotel or hostel and is where Dom Pedro II stayed when he traveled to the Holy Land. The show exhibits photos that the monarch collected in his travels, as well as photographs he took himself and images of journal pages where the emperor described his visit to the Holy Land, numbering twenty-three pictures featuring images and pieces on the travel. The photos exhibited are part of the D. Thereza Christina Maria of the National Library Foundation and the imagens of the emperor’s journals are in the custody of the Imperial Museum of Brazil (IBRAM).
One of the diary pages reads: “November 26, 1876 – I made camp at 4:25 in North Jerusalem, seeing mount of olives beyond the Middle Age walls. At 4, I found myself in the Holy Sepulcher, where I prayed for my daughter, my grandchildren, my siblings, and all people I care. The church has a venerable aspect.” Other documents like letters from the emperor during his stay in Jerusalem and his signature in the Austrian Hospice’s guest book are also displayed.
The head of Brazil’s Representation Office in Ramallah, ambassador Alessandro Candeas, opened the exhibition in the presence of representatives of the diplomatic and consular corps, the Brazilian community, scholars, intellectuals and partner institutions. Supporters include Ajyal Radio Network, Custódia Terrae Sanctae, Christian Media Center, and Greek, Armenian and Latin Orthodox Patriarchies.
The book by Brazilian researcher Roberto Khatlab on the trips of Dom Pedro II to the Arab countries was one of the bases of the exhibition. Shows on the topic have been held in countries such as Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan. “In this bicentennial of the Independence of Brazil, Brazil’s embassies are reliving the travels of Dom Pedro II, the pioneer of Brazil-Arab relations who attracted the Arab immigration to Brazil,” he said. He pointed out that Alcântara, the emperor’s second name, comes from “al-qantara,” which is Arabic for arch, or bridge. “He has always been this bridge of friendship,” Khatlab said on the emperor.
Quick facts:
Exhibition The Visit of Brazil’s Emperor Dom Pedro II to the Holy Land
November 2, 2022, to January 9, 2023
Visits from 10 am to 10 pm (every day)
Austrian Hospice (Via Dolorosa, 37 – Jerusalem)
Free entrance
Watch the documentary:
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
