Petropólis

Petropólis, city (estimated population of 310,216 in 2006) in the Organ Mountains 27 miles north of Rio de Janeiro, in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Originally founded in 1745 by Julius Frederick Knoeller, a German immigrant, Petrópolis was adopted by Dom Pedro II in 1843 as a summer residence for the royal court and a refuge from the yellow fever epidemics that ravaged Rio after 1850.

The alpine beauty of the region and its relatively cool climate had attracted the attention of Dom Pedro I, but it was left to his son, Pedro II, to develop the city, which was named in his honor. After the birth of the republic, Petrópolis remained the official summer residence for the presidents and the diplomatic corps until 1962. Although in the mountainous interior, the city hosted two international meetings: the first in 1903, when the Treaty of Petrópolis was signed, and the second in 1947, when the Intercontinental Conference for the Maintenance of Continental Peace and Security met to implement the Act of Chapultepec.

In 1939, the Brazilian government proclaimed the area surrounding Petrópolis a national park. The city itself is a popular tourist spot, since it is connected to Rio by two train lines and a highway. Among its attractions are the Imperial Palace, now used as a museum housing the royal jewels, and the Cathedral of São Pedro de Alcántara, where the remains of Pedro II and his empress, Dona Teresa Cristina, are interred.

See alsoPedro II of Brazil .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

W. M. Williams, Dom Pedro the Magnanimous. New York: Octagon Books, 1937.

T. Lynn Smith, Brazil: People and Institutions. Baton Rouge: Louisana State University Press, 1963.

Additional Bibliography

Barman, Roderick. Citizen Emperor: Pedro II and the Making of Brazil, 1825–91. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1999.

Museu Imperial (Brazil); Eletrobrás; Fundacao Roberto Marinho. Som e luz Petrópolis: Dom Pedro II-Imperador do Brasil. Petropolis: Acervo Museu Imperial, 2004.

Quevedo, Maria Augusta; Renata Lerina Ferreira Rios. Petrópolis. Porto Alegre (Brazil): Unidade Editorial da Secretaria Municipal da Cultura, 2002.

Schwartz, Lilia; John Gledson. The Emperor's Beard: Dom Pedro II and the Tropical Monarchy of Brazil. New York: Hill and Wang, 2004.

                                    Sheila L. Hooker