Visitors arriving by sea to the Brazilian port of Rio de Janeiro are usually first impressed by the magnificent statue of Christ that stands atop the mountain and overlooking the harbour. Standing with His arms outstretched it is said that He is there to protect the people of this magnificent city with its raw mixture of plenty for some, and poverty for other.
The statue is indeed a breathtaking sight but little is known of a poignant little story surrounding a lagoon within the Tijuca Forest some half way up the mountain.
A story of young love, the death of a child and the shattered dreams of a beautiful woman.
The story begins in 1808 when under the reign of King John VI the Portuguese Court came to Brazil and opened up the Brazilian ports for trade. Brazil later became the United Kingdom of Portugal in 1815.
In 1808 a young man named Visconde do Bom Retiro came to Brazil. He was 17 years of age. He studied in the best school built by the Portuguese and was an excellent scholar.
He was an active member of the Court and there he met the beautiful Josephine Mello Orleans and immediately fell in love. At the age of 21 he married her while she was in her 19th year. The marriage was a happy one and later she bore him a son named Ricardo de Mello Orleans Bom Retiro. Sadly their happiness was destroyed when the boy contracted pneumonia and died at the age of fifteen.
After their son's death the magic in their marriage faded away and they began to argue fiercely between themselves. To the point where the Court studiously avoided them, and they were no longer invited to formal and informal gatherings.
There seems to have come a point where the Viconde do Bom Retiro eventually made his peace with the Court and he was nominated Barao do Bom Retiro.
He then began to attend Court functions but his wife was not included. Naturally she became bitter and disillusioned with her life in Brazil, and without her beloved son to fill her life she decided to return to Lisbon, Portugal.
Once his wife had left him, the Viconde realised how much he loved and missed her. He bought a house in the middle of the Tijuca Forest and named the house SOLIDAO. The lagoon where he courted the young girl who became his wife remained a constant reminder of the love he had found and then so tragically lost. He named this SOLIDAO as well, because loneliness cut deep into his soul.
It takes little imagination to look at this beautiful spot and imagine two young lovers so happy in the early years to spend precious times together away from the Court and the demanding crowds.

Gordon Tumber