Um estrangeiro na inauguração da Linha da Beira Alta (1882)

Abstract

ln 1882, the Beira Alta railway was inaugurated. It was considered the real international railway connection that would draw Lisboa and its harbour closer to Central Europe. Having in mind the relevance of the event, the king and his family couldn 't be absent. However, the presence of the king is not the main focus of the following paper. We will otherwise focus our attention on an unlikely non-Portuguese guest (B. Wolowski), who for two weeks followed the king in the inaugural ceremony and also in his journey around some of the northernmost cities of the kingdom. Wolowksi described the landscape, people, mores and behaviours of those regions. Later, he summed his notes up in a small book, to which he gave the title Les Fêtes en Portugal. Inauguration du chemin de fer de la Beira-Alta.

The following text is a brief analysis of this work. We will examine the place of the Beira Alta railway in the Portuguese rail system and in the political context of the epoch. We will also try to determine who this B. Wolowski was. We aim to analyze and divulge yet another example of travel literature and of an evaluation of Portugal by the eyes of a foreigner.