After a long war over the writer’s remains, the transfer took place this Wednesday, against the wishes of several great-grandchildren.
The transfer of the mortal remains of Eça de Queiroz for the National Pantheon, in Lisbon, took place this Wednesday from 9 am, in a ceremony that began at the Assembly of the Republic and included music and reading of excerpts from works.
The transfer takes place 125 years after the writer’s deathfour years after it was approved by parliament and when a legal dispute, following actions brought by some of the great-grandchildren of the writer who did not want that the remains of Eça de Queiroz would leave the village of Santa Cruz do Douro, in the municipality of Baião, where they are deposited, to the National Pantheon.
Of the 22 great-grandchildren of Eça de Queiroz13 agreed with the transfer to the National Pantheon, with three abstentions from the writer.
The ceremony began with the Music and Fanfare Band of the National Republican Guard (GNR), in front of the Assembly of the Republic, on whose steps were the main representatives of the House of Democracy and parliamentary groups.
After the national anthem, the procession continued along Rua de São Bento with an honorary escort on horseback, to the National Pantheon, inside which images of the writer were projected and where the national anthem was performed again, by maestro João Paulo Santos and by soprano Sara Braga Simões from the São Carlos National Theater Choir.
In addition to the eulogy, given by writer Afonso Reis Cabral, great-great-grandson of Eça de Queiroz and president of the Eça de Queiroz Foundation, there was space for several musical moments and the reading of excerpts from works.
The ceremony ends after the signing of the National Pantheon’s Term of Burial, when the GNR band plays the national anthem, followed by the sound of “silence”.
The urn was transported by military police officers to the room where the Tomb Ark is located, where it will be deposited.
