Ceremonial Tides and the Emperor of the West

Abstract

The dramatic tropical landscape and extensive public realm of 19th-century Rio de Janeiro created the conditions for multiple spatial, political and ceremonial dialogues between the contained watery expanse of Guanabara Bay and an intricate and institutionally specialized necklace of urban waterfront squares. This paper investigates the dynamic relationship between land, sea, sovereignty and public space in Rio de Janeiro by interrogating representational material from archives in Austria, Brazil and Australia. The period 1808 to 1821 is the focus of the discussion, as it was during this period that state-sponsored rituals in these spaces reached a zenith with the domicile of the Portuguese royal family in Brazil