The First Lady of Brazil, Rosangela da Silva, known as “Janja”, complained about the state in which the presidential palace of Alvorada had been left, while making a visit to the television channel TV Globo.
Inhabited until last week by President Jair Bolsonaro and his wife, the huge palace of concrete, metal and glass is the official residence of the President of the Republic. It is one of the architectural jewels of Brasilia, due to Oscar Niemeyer.
Holey carpet, broken windows, rooms stripped of their furniture, the inventory is quite long, according to the images on Friday of this “exclusive interview” de Janja in the form of a guided tour of the Alvorada (Aurora) Palace in Brasilia.
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The 50-year-old, who married Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in May, explained that parts of the huge modernist building were “deteriorated” and that Lula had been “rather sorry” by visiting the places he lived in the 2000s.
Strolling through the Alvorada, Janja shows the camera a carpet full of holes, floors smashed in places, a broken window, curtains out of order and a ceiling stained with water infiltration. She also crosses a huge, absolutely empty dining room: tables and chairs have been taken away. Works of art and furniture appear to be missing, a 19th century sculpture is on the floor.
Renovations to be planned
“This building is part of the national heritage”Janja told TV Globo, struggling, despite her calm tone, to hide her dismay.
Renovations will be necessary and delay the entry into the premises of the presidential couple, explained the one who wishes to invest as much as possible in the practical arrangements so that Lula can concentrate entirely on his task as president.
“We are thinking of bringing things from inside the palace to the heritage register, so that this does not happen again, that a president cannot take away historical objects belonging to the Brazilian state” when he leaves, said the First Lady.
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Jair Bolsonaro lived four years in the Alvorada until last week, before leaving two days before the end of his mandate, not to attend the investiture of Lula on January 1 as is the democratic tradition.
Lula, 77, knows the palace well, having spent his first two terms there (2003-2010), with his then wife, Marisa Leticia, who has since died.
