Pantheon of the House of Braganza

Panteão da Casa de Bragança
Overview of the pantheon
Basic information
Location	Monastery of São Vicente de Fora
Architectural description
Architectural style	Mannerist Baroque Neoclassic
Groundbreaking	1834 (1834)

The Pantheon of the House of Braganza (Portuguese: Panteão da Casa de Bragança), located in the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora in Lisbon, Portugal, is the final resting place for many of the members of the House of Braganza, including Portuguese monarchs, Infantes of Portugal and other members or associates of the Braganzas, as well as other notable royals and nobles not belonging to the house. The Emperors of Brazil were originally also interred here, but their remains and those of family members were transferred to Brazil in 1972.

History

The Pantheon was created under orders from Ferdinand II of Portugal, transforming the old refectory of the monastery into the burial place it is today. The majority of the tombs are located on the sides of the pantheon, and are simple marble boxes with spaces of four tombs. If the tomb is of a monarch, it has a crown engraved in gold on the side of the tomb and a crown placed on top of the entire set of tombs. The tombs in the center aisle of the pantheon are those belonging to Carlos I of Portugal, Luís Filipe, Prince Royal of Portugal, Manuel II of Portugal and Queen Amélie of Orléans; the two martyrs of the Lisbon Regicide, the last King of Portugal and the last Queen consort of Portugal.

Burials at the Royal Pantheon of the House of Braganza

Tomb of José of Braganza, High Inquisitor of Portugal.

The twin tombs of King Carlos I of Portugal and Prince Royal Luís Filipe, who both died in the Lisbon Regicide.

Braganza monarchs and consorts not buried at the pantheon

All of the Braganza monarchs of Portugal are buried at the royal pantheon, from John IV (1603–1656) to Manuel II (1889–1932), except:

• Queen Maria I is buried in the Estrela Basilica in Lisbon. She died in 1816, while the Royal Court was in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and was initially laid to rest at the Ajuda Convent in Rio de Janeiro, but her remains were brought to Lisbon after the return of the Royal Family to Portugal. However, she was never buried in the Braganza Pantheon, and instead the Estrela Basilica was chosen as her resting place.
• King Pedro IV, also known as Emperor Pedro I of Brazil, was initially buried in the Pantheon, but his remains were offered to Brazil in 1972 (to mark the 150th anniversary of the Brazilian Proclamation of Independence) and they were then laid to rest at the Monument to the Independence of Brazil in São Paulo, Brazil. His heart is interred in the Church of Our Lady of Lapa, in Porto, Portugal.
• Queen Consort Maria Leopoldina of Austria, who was Queen Consort of Portugal during the brief reign of Pedro IV, is interred next to the body of her husband at the Monument to the Independence of Brazil in São Paulo, Brazil. She never set foot in Portugal, but became a Portuguese Princess by marriage when she wed the then Prince Pedro, Prince Royal of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves in 1817, while the Portuguese Royal Court was in Rio de Janeiro. She subsequently remained in Brazil with her husband, and became Empress Consort of Brazil when Pedro proclaimed the independence of Brazil and was acclaimed as Emperor Pedro I. When Pedro briefly held the Portuguese Crown as King Pedro IV from March to May, 1826, Empress Maria Leopoldina became Queen Consort of Portugal. She died in December 1826, and, before her remains were transferred to the Monument to the Independence of Brazil in 1972, was initially buried in the Convent of Santo Antônio in Rio de Janeiro.
• Queen Consort Maria Pia, consort of King Luís I of Portugal, is buried in the Pantheon of the House of Savoy in the Basilica of Superga in Turin, Italy.
• Princess Augusta Victoria of Hohenzollern, consort of King Manuel II of Portugal (the couple wed after his deposition and the abolition of the Monarchy), is buried at Langenstein Castle, owned by the family of her second husband (Count Robert Douglas).

Former burials

• Emperor Pedro II of Brazil, a member of the House of Braganza and son of King Pedro IV, was buried in the Pantheon in 1891, having been in exile in Portugal under protection of his Portuguese Braganza family after the Proclamation of the Republic of Brazil in 1889. In 1921, his body was repatriated to Brazil and reburied at the Imperial Crypt in Petrópolis Cathedral.
• Empress Teresa Cristina of Brazil, wife of the deposed Brazilian Emperor Pedro II and therefore a member of the House of Braganza by marriage, was laid to rest in the Pantheon from her death in December 1889 (shortly after the coup d'état that proclaimed Brazil a Republic and sent the Imperial Family into exile), until 1921, when her remains were returned to Brazil together with those of her husband, and were laid to rest at the Imperial Crypt in the Cathedral of St. Peter of Alcantara in Petrópolis.
• Princess Maria Amélia of Brazil, also a member of the House of Braganza, King Pedro IV's only child from his second marriage, conceived after his abdication of the Portuguese Crown, was buried in the Pantheon from her moving from Madeira a few months after her death in 1853 until 1982, before her remains were ceded to Brazil and transferred to the Convento de Santo Antônio in Rio de Janeiro.
• King Carol II of Romania, who died in Portugal while in exile, and his wife Magda Lupescu (the couple were married after his abdication of the Romanian Crown) were buried in the pantheon before the return of their bodies to Romania in 2003. They are now buried in the Orthodox Cathedral of Curtea de Argeș, alongside other Romanian royals.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Royal Pantheon of the House of Braganza.

• Monastery of São Vicente de Fora
• List of Portuguese monarchs

Sources

• Dias, Paulo (2006). Real Panteão dos Bragança: arte e memória. Antília Editora. ISBN 972-99612-9-8.
• Royal Pantheon of the Braganza Dynasty (In Portuguese)
• History of the Royal Pantheon of the Braganza Dynasty (In Portuguese)

Coordinates: 38°42′53″N 9°07′37″W / 38.71472°N 9.12694°W / 38.71472; -9.12694