A long list of... disembodied hearts?!

Starting with Pedro IV's heart: Porto's most precious treasure

 
Here's a compilation of stories, some of which were brought round by visitors, about one peculiar topic:  hearts that were separated & taken away from the rest of their owner's body to a fairly distant burial place or even to be scientifically studied. Today PORTO RUNNING TOURS is celebrating 4 years of operation and so, because one of our best-sellers from day one has been the HEART OF PORTO TOUR, let's start with a shorter version of the amazing story about our dear Pedro IV's heart, our city's most precious treasure, a true story we always share with running visitors...!

How did Pedro's heart end up in Porto?

 Most visitors find it bizarre but that's a fact: Porto has in its care the heart of the Portuguese 'king-soldier' Pedro IV!

The presence of his heart in the city was his own decision, which he stated on his will. Having died of tuberculosis at the age of 35, a mere couple of years after having been besieged in Porto, his heart - the actual organ - was brought in a ship from Lisbon and handed for safe-keeping to the Lapa church fraternity. The vault's keys, inside which his heart is kept in a special vase with formaldehyde, are on the Mayor's desk at the city hall...! On special occasions, the vault is opened and the heart is publicly displayed.

While Porto holds on to his heart, his body was taken to São Paulo, the city where he declared Brazil's independence, on the margins of the Ipiranga river, back in 1821.

​Lapa's Church, in Porto, where Pedro IV's heart rests since 1837:

Why would anyone write such a thing on their will? 
​And why did his descendants took it literally?

​Well... Pedro was not the ordinary man. He was the person who proclaimed the independence of Brazil (from Portugal), who abdicated his throne twice, in two different countries... A man with liberal ideals - which he had soaked in from the American and French revolutions - a man who was willing - and able - to gather up an army of mercenaries in order to kick his own brother out of the Portuguese throne, unrightfully occupied after their father's death...!  
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As I have written on a previous blog post: "Pedro, a force of nature, was capable of fist fighting like a villain, of swearing like a trooper and writing the most passionate, intense love and lust letters to his mistresses.  On the other hand he could also compose music - he composed one of the former Portuguese national anthems, 1834's Hymno da Carta - and would be very tender and loving towards children. He also suffered from epilepsy, which caused him to seizure regularly, even during official ceremonies. This was something that never limited him. In a sentence:  Pedro was a man of violent passions, made of excesses and contradictions." 

  Porto Running Tours in its Heart of Porto tour takes you to the streets Pedro IV walked on while his impulsive heart was still pounding in his chest! To follow some of Pedro's footsteps, in Rio de Janeiro the organization to contact is Rio Running Tours - remember this though: he's known as emperor Pedro I over there!

NEXT: PHAR LAP's huge HEART

November last year, Cassandra shared this amazing story about Australia's most famous race horse, whose heart is now on display at the NMA in Camberra.

Phar Lap was the champion that Australians needed during the Depression of the 1930's. The gangly and awkward two-year-old from New Zealand became Australia's greatest racehorse. Between September 1929 and November 1931, Phar Lap ran 41 races and won 36 of them. 

On 5 April 1932, Phar Lap died in mysterious circumstances in San Francisco, US. In Australia, Phar Lap’s death was seen as a great tragedy, and rumours spread that the horse might have been poisoned. (source)

Phar Lap’s heart was returned to Australia for testing after his sudden death in the United States in 1932. It was found to be of an unusually large size, and was donated to the Australian Institute of Anatomy, where it was on show for many years. The heart was later donated to the Institute of Anatomy in Canberra and his skeleton to the New Zealand's National Museum in Wellington. After preparations of the hide by a New York City taxidermist, his stuffed body was placed in the Australia Gallery at Melbourne Museum.

​As you can read in NMA's website "Phar Lap’s heart (...) weighed 6.35 kilograms. This is more than 1.5 times the weight of an average thoroughbred racehorse heart, which weighs 3–4 kilograms.
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The saying, ‘a heart as big as Phar Lap’s’ alludes to the horse’s strength and staying power, as well as the weight of his heart. It is used to indicate great courage, generosity or power."

back to humans:
Dr. Livingstone's HEART is under a tree in Zambia!

A few days after I met Carol for a run, here in Porto, she wrote us a special email: during her travels for work and leisure she stumbled upon other stories of hearts belonging to remarkable individuals that were separated from their 'human container'. The first story was about the famous Scottish explorer of the African continent, Dr. Livingstone.

 It was the morning of 17 November 1855 when David Livingstone first laid eyes on the waterfall that would define his life story, which he named the Victoria Falls to honour his queen.

” Creeping with awe to the verge, I peered down into a large rent which had been made from bank to bank of the broad Zambezi, and saw that a stream of a thousand yards broad leaped down a hundred feet and then became suddenly compressed into a space of fifteen to twenty yards….the most wonderful sight I had witnessed in Africa.”  David Livingstone

Livingstone became the most famous explorer of his time in Britain, known for his expeditions and missionary work in Africa.

After many expeditions and adventures in Africa, there was a time when he completely lost contact with the outside world for six years. With the explorer missing, the London Daily Telegraph and New York Herald developed a transatlantic venture, and journalist Henry Stanley was sent to Africa to find Livingstone. Stanley located the physician in Ujiji in late 1871, and upon seeing him, uttered the famous words: “Dr Livingstone, I presume?”

 David Livingstone died at the age of 60, in Chief Chitambo’s Village in North Rhodesia - now Zambia. This man was so important to the Africans, that upon his death - from dysentery and malaria on 1 May 1873 - they tried to keep his body. With much dismay, the villagers at Ilala turned over his body to Britain. Britain wouldn’t know until later, upon finding a note, that Chief Chitambo’s people had kept his heart.  His heart is buried under a 'mupundu' tree - now the site of the Livingstone Memorial- but his other remains are buried at Westminster Abbey, in London. (source)

Btw: If you are visiting London and looking for a more 'history-immersive' experience but still want it to be active, be sure to check out the tours provided by Love London Running Tours! In this photo is Jeanne, to whom I also had the pleasure of showcasing Porto - while running, of course!

Carol's second story:
St.Laurence O'Toole's stolen heart!

During centuries, the heart was of particular interest as a religious relic because of its connections to the human soul. For the devout, being in the presence of a heart relic can give the feeling of being closer the the saint. The same goes for a king’s subjects, or a musician’s fans.

Regarding St. Laurence O'Toole: he was appointed Archbishop of Dublin in 1162 and died in Normandy (France) in 1180, where his body was buried. The heart was later sent back to Dublin and it was on display at the catholic Christ Church Cathedral. It was stolen several years ago and found buried in a park less than 2 years ago. You can find the news piece published by BBC about the odd finding, here :
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43905526

While visiting Dublin, a running tour may be a great idea when you need to decide on what to do and what to see in detail in the next couple of days - pay a visit to the website of sightjoggingdublin.com and book a running or a -ever more relaxed- walking tour!

MORE CITIES, MANY HEARTS &
​OTHER EXCITING RUNNING TOURS!

book directly:
​ROME: SPQR.INFO  
MONTRÉAL: COULEURS MONTREAL 
PARIS: PARIS RUNNING TOURS  
PARIS: RUNRUNTOURS 
WARSAW: WARSAW RUNNING TOURS 

​Hearing an interesting new story from your running partner is like a double fix of the natural 'pleasure hormones': the dopamine from learning new things >plus> the endorphins resulting from the exercise.  And, in my opinion, that's what a running tour is all about - that 'feel good' sensation from running and learning new stuff - also for the guide, every now and then! :) :)

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