The Thereza Christina Maria collection is composed of 21,742 photos assembled by Emperor Pedro II (1825-91) throughout his life and donated by him to the National Library of Brazil. The collection covers a wide variety of subjects. It documents the achievements of Brazil and Brazilians in the 19th century and also includes many photographs of Europe, Africa, and North America. The neoclassical residence of the Barão de Mauá stands at the beginning of Rio Branco Avenue in Petrópolis. Irineu Evangelista de Souza, the Barão de Mauá (1813-89), purchased it in 1852 as a summer residence. De Souza, who was at one point the richest man in Brazil, built the first Brazilian railroad and was instrumental in establishing the country’s banks. This photograph is one of a series taken in the late 1860s by Pedro Hees showing the important sites of Petrópolis, a popular summer holiday spot for Brazil’s wealthy, located in the hills outside Rio de Janeiro.