Memory of the World; 2012 - unesdoc - Unesco

Dom Pedro was a patron of knowledge, learning and
the arts, with a wide-ranging and keen interest in many
subjects and the collection reflects this. The wealth
of themes and subjects covered in the photographs
is immense so that alongside photographs of family
members, courtiers and everyday events, there are images
recording every aspect of 19th-century life: agriculture,
archaeology, architecture and town planning, the
performing arts, the visual arts, astronomy, biology, botany,
education, engineering, war, immigration, medicine and
public health, physiology, ethnography and the European
nobility of the time. As a patron of knowledge, learning and
the arts, he often made personal contact with scientists,
writers and artists, using them as a means of adding to his
collections. The work of over 50 years resulted in a genuine
contribution to the study of 19th-century customs and life
in several parts of the world.
Named the Thereza Christina Maria Collection after the
emperor’s wife, it was bequeathed to the National Library
on Dom Pedro’s death in 1891.
359