The Palace of the Grand Pará ( Portuguese: ''Palácio do Grão-Pará'') is a

royal palace This is a list of royal palaces, sorted by continent. Africa * Abdin Palace, Cairo * Al-Gawhara Palace, Cairo * Koubbeh Palace, Cairo * Tahra Palace, Cairo * Menelik Palace * Jubilee Palace * Guenete Leul Palace * Imperial Palace- ...

located in the city of Petrópolis, in the state of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. It was a secondary palace of the

Brazilian Imperial Family The Brazilian Imperial Family ( Brazilian Portuguese: ''Família Imperial Brasileira'') is a Brazilian Dynasty of Portuguese origin that ruled the Empire of Brazil from 1822 to 1889, after the proclamation of independence by Prince Pedro of Bra ...

, serving to allocate the servants and guests of the Palace of Petropólis. It is currently the only palace still belonging to the Brazilian Imperial Family, being the only royal palace in the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...

occupied by a

royal family A royal family is the immediate family of kings/queens, emirs/emiras, sultans/ sultanas, or raja/ rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term pa ...

History

Imperial period

Originally built as a guesthouse for the seminarians and priests to the Imperial Court, it became a residence of the Imperial Family. It is located behind the former summer Imperial Palace of

Pedro II of Brazil Dom PedroII (2 December 1825 – 5 December 1891), nicknamed "the Magnanimous" ( pt, O Magnânimo), was the second and last monarch of the Empire of Brazil, reigning for over 58 years. He was born in Rio de Janeiro, the seventh child of Emp ...

(1840–1889). The palace was designed by the architect of the Emperor Theodore Marx, with the contribution of de Araújo Porto Alegre. The building has a neoclassical architectural style. Its construction began in 1859 and was completed in 1861. During the Empire (1822–1889), the palace was intended for the accommodation of councilors and members of representative families, who took turns at the service of Emperor Pedro II of Brazil and his family. It housed the Court of Justice during the Old Republic. Subsequent to that period, it became, in sequence, the College of Luso-Brazilian (the

United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves The United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves was a pluricontinental monarchy formed by the elevation of the Portuguese colony named State of Brazil to the status of a kingdom and by the simultaneous union of that Kingdom of Brazil ...

) and the residence of former U.S. ambassador to Brazil Edwin V. Morgan (1865–1934), who served as ambassador from 1912 to 1933.

Republican period

With the repeal of the ban on Brazilian imperial family in 1921, ownership of the Palace of the Grand Para passed back to the Imperial family, and was used as the residence of the eldest son of

Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil , house = Braganza , father = Pedro II of Brazil , mother = Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies , birth_date = , birth_place = Palace of São Cristóvão, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil , death_date = , death_place = ...

, who in turn was the daughter of Emperor Pedro II of Brazil. Isabel's eldest son,

Pedro de Alcântara, Prince of Grão Para Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for ''Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meaning " ...

, renounced his position as heir in order to contract a marriage to a non-royal; the Palace then passed to his next brother

Prince Luiz of Orléans-Braganza A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

in his capacity as Isabel's recognised heir. After his death, the Palace became the residence of the eldest son of

, D. Prince Pedro Gastão of Orléans-Braganza. Since 27 December 2007, it has been the residence of Prince Pedro Carlos of Orléans-Braganza, eldest son of Prince Pedro Gastão of Orléans-Braganza; his second son was born in the palace, and his second wife died in residence. It was registered in 1959 by the Brazilian National Historical and Artistical Heritage Institute.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palacio Grao Para Residential buildings completed in 1861 Palaces in Petrópolis Imperial residences in Brazil 1861 establishments in Brazil