PEDRO II SCHOOL
68 TO 80, MARECHAL FLORIANO AVENUE, CENTRO
Hi, folks! Today the blog honors the Brazilian second Emperor Pedro II, known to be a better governor than some that insist to govern us nowadays…
Founded on December 2nd, 1837 – the Emperor´s 12th birthday – the Pedro II School, according to the Wikipedia, is the third oldest school still functioning in Brazil, but its origin, as a matter of fact, is much older.
The history of the enterprise is deeply related to the Church of Saint Joachim (Igreja de São Joaquim), housed in a ground located in front of the present school. But it was another brotherhood, in another church, that planted the seed of the future educational institution: Church of Saint Peter of Clerics (Igreja de São Pedro dos Clérigos). There were born, in 1739, the Saint Peter Orphans (Órfãos de São Pedro), later (1766) baptized as Saint Joachim Seminary (Seminário de São Joaquim), and finally restructured and rebaptized as Pedro II School.
Unfortunately both 17th Century churches don´t exist anymore. The Church of Saint Joachim, dropped down during the Pereira Passos Government, in 1904, used to be the point of connection for two important streets, The Broad Street of Saint Joachim (Rua Larga de São Joaquim) and the Narrow Street of Saint Joachim (Rua Estreita de São Joaquim). Rectified, they gave birth to a modern avenue, Marechal Floriano Avenue. Saint Peter of Clerics, in turn, the only church in town with a double oval plan view, was torn down when completing 200 years old, in 1943, “thanks” to the opening of Presidente Vargas Avenue.
Finally, we publish here three images of some Pedro II School´s door details. The building owes its present aspect to the 1874 reform conducted by the architect Francisco Joaquim Bethencourt da Silva. On the door we see engraved, both in metal and in wood, a book, a dip pen (or a pencil) and a diploma over a globe – an allusion to the idea that only dedication to study can take Man to conquer the world.
Observe the winged dragon (or winged wyvern) present in this same door, an heraldic reference to the Emperor´s Family – the Bragança Family.