MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil: Works of art broken during Jan. 8 uprising restored for 2nd anniversary ceremony

Lula claimed he was a lover of democracy because lovers were much more ardent than husbands

Brazilian authorities took delivery Wednesday of some 21 works of art that had been vandalized during the Jan.8, 2023, uprisings in Brasilia ending in hundreds of arrests of alleged followers of former President Jair Bolsonaro and convictions for attacking democracy.

On the second anniversary of what the Brazilian Government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and magistrates such as Supreme Federal Court (STF) Justice Alexandre De Moraes dubbed a failed cou d'état, 21 works of art have just been restored.

“We are not here to lament and much less to forget. We are here to celebrate and strengthen democracy, and to deliver to the Brazilian people their fully restored heritage,” Brazilian First Lady Janja da Silva said.

One of the most important pieces is the historic table clock that belonged to Portuguese King Joao VI, which was caught by security cameras when it was thrown to the ground, sustaining considerable damage.

Thanks to a collaboration agreement with the Swiss embassy, the Swiss jeweler Audemars Piguet, created in 1875, took over the cost of the restoration.

The rest of the works (mainly paintings, vases, small sculptures, and other ornamental pieces) were restored with public money, at a total cost of US$ 330,000, it was explained.

Among these works are an Italian glazed ceramic amphora that was broken into 180 pieces and the painting Mulatas, by Emiliano Di Cavalcanti, which suffered seven stab wounds during the attacks.

From the front, the work now appears fully restored, but the team of restorers decided to leave the marks on the back, as scars to help tell the story and prevent it from being repeated, said the director of the National Historical Heritage Institute, Leonardo Grass. Among the pieces recovered was also the painting 'The Fines' by Di Cavalcanti.

The gesture is reminiscent of one of the most famous portraits of the Brazilian Emperor Pedro II, exhibited at the National Historical Museum, which remains restored, albeit showing the damage done to his face during the independence period.

After returning the works of art, Lula and De Moraes participated in a commemorative event of the attacks, during which they highlighted democracy's importance and the error of believing coups were a thing of the past.