The remains of Eça de Queiroz’s transferred to National Pantheon

The remains of writer José Maria Eça de Queiroz have been laid to rest in the National Pantheon in Lisbon, as part of a ceremony honouring his literary career during the 14th century.

The urn belonging to the author of works such as Os Maias (The Maias) or O Crime do Padre Amaro (The Crime of Father Amaro) will remain in this emblematic site in Portuguese capital. Other notable noble figures from Portuguese history include the presidents of the Republic Manuel de Arriaga and Teófilo Braga, and from the cultural milieu, figures such as Almeida Garrett, Luís de Camões and Amália Rodrigues.

The transfer of the writer’s remains on Wednesday morning was accompanied by a tribute that began shortly after 9am at the Assembly of the Republic, where the body was first transported.

This was followed by a procession to the National Pantheon – which passed through various parts of the city – where the final part of the ceremony took place at 11am.

Leading figures in Portuguese politics, such as the current head of state, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the president of the Assembly of the Republic, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, and the prime minister, Luís Montenegro, were present.

Speaking at the ceremony, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said that the “Pantheon is the place of the immortals” and recalled that several of them “were writers”.

Recalling that few Portuguese writers “are as alive as Eça de Queiroz”, the head of state included the author in a restricted range of “dead people to whom we give life because we still read them”. This is the case, he explained, with names such as Gil Vicente, Luís de Camões, Almeida Garrett, Cesário Verde or Fernando Pessoa, and few others.

“And some contemporaries, closer in time, but these will be subjected to the test of the centuries, just like those I mentioned,” added the President of the Republic.

In Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s view, “the greatest tribute to Eça will undoubtedly be to re-edit him, study him and, above all, read him”. However, he also considered that there are “obvious acts of justice” that must take place, “such as this transfer, even though we don’t know the writer’s wishes on the matter”.

In his speech, he also explained that “it is not enough to bury the dead and look after the living”, but that it is also necessary to “look after the dead, even when they are still alive”.

The ceremony also featured performances by conductor João Paulo Santos and soprano Sara Simões, from the Choir of the São Carlos National Theatre, and the reading of excerpts from the work of Eça de Queiroz.

Eça de Queiroz died on 16 August 1900, in Paris, at the age of 54. His remains were transported to Lisbon the following month, where he was buried in Lisbon’s Alto de São João Cemetery. In 1989, they were transferred to the family tomb in Santa Cruz do Douro, in the municipality of Baião, where he has remained until now.

An unavoidable name in Portuguese literature (and culture)

He was one of Portugal’s most famous writers and was responsible for writing some of the most emblematic works of Portuguese literature.

In addition to ‘Os Maias’ – for many, one of the first ways to get to know the author’s work, since the book is part of the National Reading Plan – Eça de Queiroz was responsible for the birth of stories such as ‘O Crime do Padre Amaro’, ‘O Primo Basílioe’ (Cousin Basilo)’, ‘A Cidade e as Serras’ (The City and the Mountains), among many others he wrote throughout his literary career (some of which were published posthumously).

A career he built after graduating in Law from the University of Coimbra in 1866, a course that opened the door to a short career in law. However, it was in journalism and literature that he found his true vocation.

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Along with figures such as Antero de Quental and Teófilo Braga, he was also part of the acclaimed “Generation of 70” – also known as the “Coimbra Dissidence” – made up of a group of young intellectuals who called for a political, cultural and social revolution in the country in the last half of the 19th century.

He also had a career in diplomacy, having been appointed consul in Havana, Newcastle, Bristol and, finally, Paris.

As the Eça de Queiroz Foundation details on its official website, his literary work is “characterised by realism, social criticism and narrative innovation”, having exposed “the vices and hypocrisies of Portuguese society with crudeness”. It therefore marks a “period of great transformation and modernity in Portuguese literature”.