Remains of Eça de Queiroz will be transferred to the national Pantheon

The President  Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, announced that the remains of the writer Eça de Queiroz will be transferred to the National Pantheon in the near future.

The head of state ma-de this announcement while speaking at the Lisbon Congress Center.

In this regard, he announced: “We are going to honor the transfer of the mortal remains of Eça de Queiroz to the National Pantheon “.

The Assembly of the Republic unanimously approved in January 2021 a PS draft resolution to “grant honors of the National Pantheon to the remains of José Maria Eça de Queiroz, in recognition and tribute for the unique and decisive literary work in the history of Portuguese literature” .

It was also decided at the time, “to set up a team with representatives of each parliamentary group with the task of determining the date and defining and guiding the transfer program, in conjunction with the other public entities involved, as well as a representative of the Eça de Queiroz Foundation”.

Eça de Queiroz died on August 16, 1900 and was buried in Lisbon. 

In September 1989, his remains were transported from the Cemetery of Alto de São João, in the capital, to a family tomb, in the cemetery of Santa Cruz do Douro, in Baião.

The National Pantheon intends to “honor and perpetuate the memory of Portuguese citizens who distinguished themselves for services rendered to the country, in the exercise of high public offices, high military services, in the expansion of Portuguese culture, in literary, scientific and artistic creation or in the defense of the values of civilization, in favor of the dignity of the human person and the cause of freedom”.

Eça de Queiroz, born in Póvoa de Varzim, Porto district, in 1845, was the author of short stories and novels, including “Os Maias”, which generations of critics and researchers in the field of literature consider the best Portuguese realistic novel of the century XIX.