Heart of Brazil’s first Emperor returns for bicentenary

As Brazil prepares to celebrate two hundred years of independence, the heart of its first emperor, Dom Pedro, will be flown from Porto in Portugal to Brasilia. The monarch, known as Dom Pedro IV in Portugal and Dom Pedro I in Brazil, requested his heart be gifted to Porto on his death.

Rafael Cariello is a journalist and historian who is publishing a book on Brazilian independence. He told Newsday: “It’s a strange event, the return of a heart to the country… Brazilians in general do not relate to that but the government do.”

(Picture: Heart of Dom Pedro preserved in formaldehyde on display in Porto. Credit: EPA.)