National Museum (Rio de Janeiro)

Not to be confused with National Historical Museum (Brazil).

National Museum of Brazil

Museu Nacional
Museum in 2011
Established	6 June 1818 (1818-06-06)
Location	Quinta da Boa Vista in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Coordinates
Type	Natural history, ethnology and archaeology
Collection size	approx. 20 million objects (before 2018 fire), 1.5 million objects placed in other buildings (after 02.09.2018 fire)
Visitors	approx. 150,000 (2017)
Founder	King João VI of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves
Director	Alexander Wilhelm Armin Kellner
Owner	Federal University of Rio De Janeiro or UFRJ
Website	www.museunacional.ufrj.br

The National Museum (Portuguese: Museu Nacional) prior to its destruction in 2018, burning to the ground, was the oldest museum and is the oldest scientific institution of Brazil, once holding one of the largest museums' collection of natural history and anthropology in the world. The museum was installed in the Paço de São Cristóvão (Saint Christopher's Palace), inside the Quinta da Boa Vista, in the city of Rio de Janeiro, which was previously the residence of the Portuguese Royal Family between 1808 and 1821, housed the Brazilian Imperial Family between 1822 and 1889, and also hosted the Republican Constituent Assembly from 1889 to 1891, before being assigned to the use of the museum in 1892. The building has been listed as Brazilian National Heritage since 1938.

Founded by King João VI of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves on 6 June 1818, under the name of "Royal Museum", the institution was initially housed at the Campo de Santana park, where it exhibited the collections incorporated from the former House of Natural History, popularly known as Casa dos Pássaros ("House of the Birds"), created in 1784 by the Viceroy of Brazil, Luís de Vasconcelos e Sousa, 4th Count of Figueiró, as well as collections of mineralogy and zoology. The museum foundation was intended to address the interests of promoting the socioeconomic development of the country by the diffusion of education, culture, and science. In the 19th century, the institution was already established as the most important South American museum of its type. In 1946, it was incorporated into the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

Before a September 2018 fire, the National Museum held a vast collection with more than 20 million objects, encompassing some of the most important material records regarding natural science and anthropology in Brazil, as well as numerous items that came from other regions of the world and were produced by several cultures and ancient civilizations. Formed along more than two centuries through expeditions, excavations, acquisitions, donations and exchanges, the collection was subdivided into seven main nuclei: geology, paleontology, botany, zoology, biological anthropology, archaeology, and ethnology. The collection was the principal basis for the research conducted by the academic departments of the museum – which are responsible for carrying out activities in all the regions of the Brazilian territory and several places of the world, including the Antarctic continent. The museum also holds one of the largest scientific libraries of Brazil, with over 470,000 volumes and 2,400 rare works.

In the area of education, the museum offers specializations, extension and post-graduation courses in several fields of the knowledge, in addition to hosting temporary and permanent exhibitions and educational activities open to the general public. The museum manages the Horto Botânico (Botanical Garden), adjacent to the Paço de São Cristóvão, as well as an advanced campus in the city of Santa Teresa, in Espírito Santo – the Santa Lúcia Biological Station, jointly managed with the Museum of Biology Prof. Mello Leitão. A third site, located in the city of Saquarema, is used as a support and logistics center for field activities. Finally, the museum is also dedicated to editorial production, outstanding in that field the Archivos do Museu Nacional, the oldest scientific journal of Brazil, continuously published since 1876.

The palace, which housed a large part of the collection, was destroyed in a fire on the night of 2 September 2018. The building had been called a "firetrap" by critics, who argued the fire was predictable and could have been prevented. In the wake of the fire, the ruined edifice is undergoing reconstruction efforts, with a metallic roof covering 5,000 m² area including debris, being treated as an "archaeological site".

History

The former Imperial Palace that housed the National Museum

The National Museum was officially established by His Majesty King João VI of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves (1769–1826) in 1818 with the name of Royal Museum, in an initiative to stimulate scientific research in the Kingdom of Brazil, then a constituent part of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. Initially the Museum sheltered botanical and animal specimens, especially birds, what caused the old building where it was located in center of Rio de Janeiro, to be known by the population as the "House of the Birds".

After that, with the marriage of King João VI's eldest son and Brazil's first Emperor, Dom Pedro I (1798–1834), with H.I. & R.H. Archduchess Maria Leopoldina of Austria (1797-1826), the Museum started to attract the greatest European naturalists of the 19th century, such as Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied (1782–1867), Johann Baptist von Spix (1781–1826) and Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius (1794–1868). Other European researchers who explored the country, such as Augustin Saint-Hilaire (1799–1853) and the Baron von Langsdorff (1774–1891), contributed to the collections of the Royal Museum.

By the end of the 19th century, reflecting the personal preferences of His Imperial Majesty Emperor Pedro II (1825–1891), the National Museum started to invest in the areas of the anthropology, paleontology and archaeology. The Emperor himself, who was an avid amateur scientist and enthusiastic supporter of all branches of science, contributed with several of the collections of the art of Ancient Egypt, botanical fossils, etc., which he acquired during many of his trips abroad. In this way, the National Museum was modernized and became the most important museum of Natural History and Human Sciences of South America. Edmund Roberts visited the museum in 1832, noting that the museum only had three open rooms at that time, and that the closed rooms were "sadly plundered of its contents by Don Pedro."

The National Museum at its first location in Campo de Sant'Anna, today's Praça da República, ca. 1870

Sala Spix, c. 1905

D. Pedro II was well aware of the shortage of true scientists and naturalists in Brazil. He fixed this problem by inviting foreign scientists to come to work at the Museum. The first to come was Ludwig Riedel (1761–1861), a German botanist who had participated in Baron von Langsdorff's famed expedition to Mato Grosso from 1826 to 1828. Other scientists to come were: German chemist Theodor Peckolt and American geologist and paleontologist Charles Frederick Hartt (1840–1878). In the following years the Museum gradually became known so it continued to attract several foreign scientists who wished to achieve scientific stature with their work in Brazil, such as Fritz Müller (1821–1897), Hermann von Ihering (1850–1930), Carl August Wilhelm Schwacke (1848–1894), Orville Adalbert Derby (1851–1915), Émil August Goeldi (1859–1917), Louis Couty (1854–1884) and others, all fired by museum director Ladislau Netto when the Emperor was deposed.

The Emperor was still a very popular figure when he was deposed by a military coup in 1889, so the republicans tried to erase the symbols of the Empire. One of these symbols, the Paço de São Cristóvão, the official residence of the emperors in the Quinta da Boa Vista, became vacant; therefore, in 1892, the National Museum, with all its collections, valuables and researchers, was transferred to this palace, where it stays until today.

In 1946, the Museum’s management was passed to the University of Brazil, currently the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. The researchers and their offices and laboratories occupy a good part of the Palace and other buildings erected at Botanical Gardens (Horto Florestal), in the Quinta da Boa Vista park. There, one can find one of the largest scientific libraries of Rio. Currently, the National Museum offers graduate courses in the following areas: Anthropology and Sociology, Botany, Geology and Paleontology, and Zoology.

Collections

See also: Collection of fossils in the National Museum of Brazil and Collection of meteorites in the National Museum of Brazil

The Museum sheltered one of the largest exhibits of the Americas, prior the fire, consisting of animals, insects, minerals, aboriginal collections of utensils, Egyptian mummies and South American archaeological artifacts, meteorites, fossils and many other findings.

Bendegó meteorite, which survived the fire

One of the meteorites that was on display is the Bendegó meteorite, which weighs over 5,000 kilograms (11,000 lb) and was discovered in 1784.

Archaeology

The collection of archaeology of the National Museum comprised more than 100,000 objects, covering distinct several civilizations that lived in the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Middle East, since the Paleolithic Age until the 19th century. The collection is subdivided into four main segments: Ancient Egypt, Mediterranean cultures, Pre-Columbian archaeology, and Pre-Columbian Brazil – last nucleus, systematically gathered since 1867, is the largest segment of the archaeological collection, as well as the most important collection of its typology in the world, covering the history of Pre-Cabraline Brazil in a very comprehensive manner and sheltering some of the most important material records related to Brazilian archaeology. It was, therefore, a collection of considerable scientific value, and object of several works of basic research, theses, dissertations, and monographs.

Ancient Egypt

See also: Collection of mummies in the National Museum of Brazil and Collection of funerary steles in the National Museum of Brazil

Sarcophagus and mummy of Sha-Amun-en-su. Third Intermediate Period, XXIII Dynasty, c. 750 BC.

With more than 700 items, the collection of Egyptian archaeology of the National Museum was one of the largest of Latin America and one of the oldest in the Americas. Most part of the objects entered the museum collection in 1826, when the tradesman Nicolau Fiengo brought from Marseille an assemblage of Egyptian antiquities that belonged to the famous Italian explorer Giovanni Battista Belzoni, who had been in charge of excavating the Theban Necropolis (modern-day Luxor) and the Temple of Karnak.

This collection had Argentina as initial destination, and had probably been ordered by the president of that country, Bernardino Rivadavia, creator of the University of Buenos Aires and a noted enthusiast of museums. However, a naval blockade at the La Plata River would impede Fiengo of completing his journey, forcing him to return from Montevideo to Rio de Janeiro, where the pieces were offered at an auction. Emperor Pedro I bought the entire collection for five million réis, and subsequently donated it to the National Museum. It has been suggested that the action of Pedro I would have been influenced by José Bonifácio de Andrada, a relevant early member of Freemasonry in Brazil, perhaps driven by the interest that the organization had for the Egyptian iconography.

The collection started by Pedro I would be expanded by his son, emperor Pedro II, amateur Egyptologist and notable collector of archaeological and ethnographic artifacts. One of the most important additions to the Egyptian collection of the National Museum made by Pedro II is the polychromed wood sarcophagus of the singer of Amun, Sha-Amun-en-su, from the Late Period, offered to the emperor as a gift during his second trip to Egypt, in 1876, by the Khedive Isma'il Pasha. The sarcophagus is distinguished for its rarity, since it is one of few examples that have never been opened, still preserving the mummy of the singer in its interior. The collection would be enriched through other acquisitions and donations, becoming, at the beginning of the 20th-century, sufficiently relevant to draw the attention of international researchers and egyptologysts, such as Alberto Childe, who served as conservator of the Department of Archaeology of the museum between 1912 and 1938, and was also responsible for publishing the Guide of the Collections of Classical Archaeology of the National Museum, in 1919.

Egyptian mummy ("Princess Kherima"). Roman Period, 1st–3rd centuries AD.

Besides the forementioned coffin of Sha-Amun-en-su, the museum possesses other three sarcophagi, from the Third Intermediate Period and the Late Era, belonging to three priests of Amun: Hori, Pestjef, and Harsiese. The museum also conserves six human mummies (four adults and two children), as well as a number of mummies and sarcophagi of animals (cats, ibises, fishes, and crocodiles). Among the human examples, the highlight is a mummy of a woman from the Roman Period, which is considered extremely rare for the preparatory technique used, of which there are only eight similar examples worldwide. Called "princess of the Sun" or "princess Kherima", the mummy has her members and fingers of the hands and feet individually swaddled and is richly adorned, with painted strips. "Princess Kherima" is one of the most popular items of the National Museum collection, being even related to accounts of parapsychological experiences and collective trances, that supposedly occurred in the 1960s. "Kherima" also inspired the romance The Secret of the Mummy by Everton Ralph, member of the Rosicrucian society.

The collection of votive and funerary steles is composed of dozens of pieces dated, in their majority, from the Intermediate Period and the Late Era. The steles of Raia and Haunefer, which are graved with titles of Semitic origins present in the Bible and in the tablets of Mari, stand out, as well as an unfinished stele, attributed to the emperor Tiberius, of the Roman Period. The museum also had a vast collection of shabtis, i.e. statuettes representing funerary servers, including a group of pieces that belonged to pharaoh Seti I, excavated from his tomb at the Valley of the Kings. The rare artifacts included a limestone statue of a young woman, dated of the New Kingdom, carrying a conic ointment vessel on the top of her head – an iconography that is almost exclusively found among paintings and reliefs. The collection also includes fragments of reliefs, masks, statues of deities in bronze, stone and wood (such as representations of Ptah-Sokar-Osiris), canopic jars, alabaster bowls, funerary cones, jewels, amulets, etc.

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  Stele of Raia. New Kingdom, XIX Dynasty, c. 1300–1200 BC

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  Sarcophagus of Hori. Third Intermediate Period, XXI Dynasty, c. 1049–1026 BC.

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  Bronze statuette of Amun.

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  Golden mask. Ptolemaic Kingdom, c. 304 BC.

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  Harsiese Sarcophagus interior

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  Cat Sacophagus

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  Canopic jar

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  Lion figure

Mediterranean cultures

See also: Collection of Mediterranean antiquities in the National Museum of Brazil

Kore statuette, sculpted in marble. Greek civilization, c. 5th century BC.

The collection of classical archaeology of the National Museum added up to around 750 pieces and consists mostly of Greek, Roman, Etruscan, and Italiote objects, being the largest collection of its kind in Latin America. Most of the pieces previously belonged to the Greco-Roman collection of empress Teresa Cristina, who had been interested in archaeology since her youth. When the empress disembarked in Rio de Janeiro in 1843, right after her proxy wedding to emperor Pedro II, she brought an assemblage of antiquities found during the excavations of Herculaneum and Pompeii, the Ancient Roman cities destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Part of this collection had also belonged to Carolina Murat, sister of Napoleon Bonaparte and queen consort of the king of Naples, Joachim Murat.

In turn, Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies, brother of empress Teresa Cristina, had ordered the excavations of Herculaneum and Pompeii, initiated in the 18th century, be resumed. The recovered pieces were sent to the Royal Bourbon Museum of Naples. Aiming to increase the number of classical artifacts in Brazil with a view to the future creation of a museum of Greco-Roman archaeology in the country, the empress established formal exchanges with the Kingdom of Naples. She requested the shipment of Greco-Roman objects to Rio de Janeiro, while sending artifacts of indigenous origins to Italy. The empress also personally financed excavations in Veios, an Etruscan archeological site located fifteen kilometers north of Rome, thus enabling a large part of the objects found there to be brought to Brazil. A greater part of those had been gathered between 1853 and 1859, but Teresa Cristina continued to enrich the collection until the fall of the Brazilian empire in 1889, when the Republic was proclaimed and the empress left the country with all the royal family.

Detail of a fresco from the Temple of Isis, representing a sea dragon and a dolphin, 1st century AD (Fourth Style).

Among the highlights of the collection were a set of four frescos from Pompeii, made around the 1st century AD. Two of those are decorated with marine motifs, respectively depicting a sea dragon and a seahorse as the central figure surrounded by dolphins, and had adorned the lower walls of the room of the devotees at the Temple of Isis. The other two frescos are decorated with representations of plants, birds, and landscapes, stylistically close to the paintings of Herculaneum and Stabiae. The museum also housed a large number of objects from Pompeii portraying the daily life of Ancient Roman citizens: fibulae, jewels, mirrors, and other pieces of the Roman female toilette, glass and bronze vessels, phallic amulets, oil lamps molded in terracotta, etc.

The collection of Mediterranean pottery comprised more than dozens of objects and is noted for the diversity of origins, shapes, decorations and utilitarian purposes. Several of the most important styles and schools of classical antiquity are represented, from the Corinthian geometric style of the 7th century BC to the Roman terracotta amphoras of the Early Christian era. The museum houses examples of kraters, oenochoai, kantharos, chalices, kyathos, cups, hydriai, lekythoi, askoi, and lekanides. The groups of Etruscan Bucchero pottery (7th–4th centuries BC), Greek black-figure vases (7th–5th centuries BC), Gnathian vessels (4th century BC), and the vast set of Italian red-figure vases, with ceramics from Apulia, Campania, Lucania and Magna Graecia, which also stand out.

The collection of sculptures comprised a large number of Tanagra figurines, small terracotta sculptures of Greek origin that were widely appreciated in the Ancient world, as well as a group of Etruscan bronze statuettes representing warriors and female figures. The collection of military artifacts included entire pieces or fragments of helmets, maces, scabbards, bronze blades, brooches and phalleras.

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  Venus or Leda. Alabaster sculpture, Hellenistic.

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  Etruscan caryatid chalice, c. 620–560 BC

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  Corinthian oinochoe with lid, c. 600–575 BC

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  Campanian Red-figure chalice krater, late 4th century BC

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  Vases

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  wine amphora

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  Amphora

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  Statues

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  bells

Pre-Columbian archaeology

Peruvian Wari culture. Anthropomorphic ceramic figurine, 500–1200 AD.

The National Museum housed an important group of about 1,800 artifacts produced by the Indigenous peoples of the Americas during the Pre-Columbian era, as well as Andean mummies. Gathered throughout the 19th century, the collection was based on holdings of the Brazilian royal family, with several objects coming from the private collection of Emperor Pedro II. It was later enlarged through acquisitions, donations, exchanges, and excavations. By the end of the 19th-century, the collection already had considerable prestige, being cited, on the occasion of opening the 1889 Anthropological Exposition, as one of the largest collections of South American archaeology.

The collection comprised mostly objects related to the textile manufacturing, featherwork, ceramic production, and stonecraft of the Andean cultures (groups of Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina) and, to a lesser extent, of the Amazonian natives (including a rare assemblage of artifacts from the area of present-day Venezuela) and Mesoamerican cultures (mainly from present-day Mexico and Nicaragua). Several aspects of the daily routine, social organization, religiosity, and imagery of the Pre-Columbian civilizations are addressed in the collection, which has items from common daily use (clothing, body ornaments, weapons) to more refined artifacts, imbued with notable artistic sense (measurement and musical instruments, ritual objects, figurative ceramic sculptures and vessels distinguished for their aesthetic features). Other aspects of Pre-Columbian life, such as the dynamics of trade, ideological diffusion, and cultural influences among the groups, are also represented in the collection. Items are evaluated in terms of the similarity of decorative patterns and artistic techniques, as well as in the subjects portrayed. Common to nearly all distinct groups are such subjects as plants, nocturnal animals (bats, serpents, owls), and fantastic creatures associated to natural elements and phenomena.

Peruvian Chancay culture. Fragment of textile with representation of birds. Huaca del Sol, Late Period, c. 1200–1400 AD.

Shrunken head, mummified by the Ecuadorian-Peruvian Jivaroan peoples.

The best represented groups, in the context of Andean cultures, include:

• Nazca culture, which flourished on the southern coast of Peru between the 1st century BC and 800 AD. The National Museum has a large set of fragments of Nazca textiles depicting animals (mainly llamas), fantastic beings, plants, and geometric patterns;
• Moche civilization, which flourished on the northern coast of Peru between the early Christian era and 8th century AD, responsible for building large monuments, temples, pyramids, and ceremonial complexes, represented in the collection by a group of figurative pottery of high artistic and technical quality (zoomorphic, anthropomorphic, and globular vessels) and examples of goldsmithery;
• Wari culture, which inhabited the south-central Andes since the 5th century AD, represented by anthropomorphic ceramic vessels and textile fragments;
• Lambayeque culture, which arose in the homonymous region of Peru during the 8th century AD, exemplified in the collection through textiles, pottery and metalwork;
• Chimú culture, which flourished on the Valley of the Moche River since the 10th century AD, represented by a group of zoomorphic and anthropomorphic pottery (characteristically dark, obtained through the technique of reducing burning, and inspired by stylistic elements of the Moche and Wari cultures), as well as textiles decorated with varying motifs;
• Chancay culture, which developed between the Intermediate and Late periods (from about 1000 to 1470 AD), on the valleys of the rivers Chancay and Chillon, presented in the collection by a set of anthropomorphic pottery (characteristically dark, decorated with light-colored engobe and brown painting) and sophisticated textiles depicting animals and vegetables – namely a large mantle, with three meters of length;
• Inca civilization, which flourished around the 13th century AD and became the largest empire of the Pre-Columbian Americas in the following century. The National Museum possesses a set of figurative pottery and vessels decorated with geometric patterns ("Incan aryballos"), miniature figures of human beings and llamas, made with alloys of gold, silver, and copper, miniatures of Inca ceremonial clothing, featherwork, quipus, mantles, tunics, and several other examples of textiles.

The collection of Andean mummies of the National Museum allows a glimpse at the funerary practices of the cultures of the region. The mummies of the collection were preserved either naturally (as a result of the favorable geo-climatic conditions of the Andean Mountains) or artificially, in the context of religious and ritualistic practices. Originating from Chiu Chiu, at the Atacama Desert, northern Chile, there is a mummy of a man with an estimated age of 3,400 to 4,700 years, preserved in a seated position, with the head resting on the knees and covered by a wool cap. This was the position which the Atacaman cultures used to sleep, due to the cold climate of the desert. It was also the position in which they were buried, together with their belongings. A second mummy in the collection – an Aymara man, found in the surroundings of Lake Titicaca, between Peru and Bolivia – is preserved in the same position, but involved in a funerary bundle. The collection of mummies also include a boy, donated by the Chilean government, and, illustrating the techniques of artificial mummification of Pre-Columbian cultures, an example of a shrunken head, coming from the Jivaroan peoples of equatorial Amazon, of ritualistic purposes.

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  Peruvian Moche civilization. Head-shaped ceramic vessel, c. 100 BC–800 AD

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  Inca civilization. Ceramic vase ("Inca Aryballos"), c. 1430–1532

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  Mummy of a Chilean Atacaman man, c. 4700–3400 years before present.

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  Amazonian Ceramics

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  Ceramics

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  Plumes

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  Plumes

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  Accessories

Brazilian archaeology

Marajoara culture. Anthropomorphic funerary urn, 400–1400 AD.

The collection of Brazilian archaeology of the National Museum brought together a vast set of artifacts produced by the cultures that flourished in the Brazilian territory during the pre-colonial era, with more than 90,000 objects. It was considered the largest collection in its typology worldwide. Gradually assembled since the early 19th century, the collection started being systematically gathered since 1867 and has been continually expanded until the present day, through excavations, acquisitions and donations, also serving as basis for a large number of research projects conducted by the academics of the museum, the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and other institutions. It was composed of objects coming from all regions of Brazil, establishing a timeline spanning more than 10,000 years.

From the oldest inhabitants of the Brazilian territory (horticulturists and hunter-gatherer groups), the museum preserved several artifacts made of stone (flint, quartz and other minerals) and bones, such as projectile points used for hunting, axe blades of polished stone and other tools used for carving, scraping, cleaving, triturating, and piercing, in addition to artifacts of ceremonial use and adornments. Although objects made of wood, fiber, and resin were also produced, the majority of them didn't stand the test of time and are almost absent in the collection, except for some individual pieces – namely a woven straw basket covered by resin, only partially preserved, found in the southern coast of Brazil.

In the segment regarding the Sambaqui people, i.e. the fishing and gathering communities which lived in the south-central coast of Brazil between 8,000 years before present and the early Christian era, the National Museum holds a large number of vestiges originating from deposits constituted of agglomerated lime and organic material – the so-called Sambaquis, or middens. Two fragments of Sambaquis are preserved in the collection, in addition to a group of human skeletal remains found in these archaeological sites, as well as several cultural testimonies of the Sambaqui people, encompassing utilitarian objects used in routine tasks (vessels, bowls, pestles and mortars carved in stone), ceremonies and rituals (such as votive statuettes). Among the highlights of the Sambaqui collection, there is a large set of zoolites (stone sculptures of votive use, with representation of animals, such as fish and birds, and human figures).

Santarém culture. Ceramic vessel ("caryatid" vase), 1000–1400 AD.

The collection included several examples of funerary urns, rattles, dishes, bowls, clothing, dresses, idols, and amulets, with emphasis being placed on ceramic objects, produced by numerous cultures of precolonial Brazil. Best represented groups in the collection include:

• Marajoara culture, which flourished on Marajó island, at the mouth of the Amazon River, between the 5th and the 15th centuries, considered the group that reached the highest level of social complexity in precolonial Brazil. The museum has a vast assemblage of Marajoara pottery, notable for their heightened artistic and aesthetic sense, as well as for the variety of shapes and refined decoration – mostly works of figurative nature (representations of humans and animals), combined with rich geometric patterns (compositions imbued with symmetry, rhythmic repetitions, paired elements, binary oppositions, etc.) and with a predominant usage of the excision technique. Major part of the ceramic pieces are of ceremonial nature, used in funerary contexts, rites of passage, etc. Among the highlights, it's possible to mention the anthropomorphic statuettes (particularly the phallus-shaped female figurines, uniting the male and female principles, a recurring theme of the Marajoara art), large-scale funerary urns, anthropomorphic vases with geometric decoration, ritual thongs, zoomorphic, anthropomorphic and hybrid vessels, etc.
• Santarém culture (or Tapajós culture), which inhabited the region of the Tapajós River in the state of Pará, between the 5th and the 15th centuries, known for their ceramic work of peculiar style and high technical quality, produced with the techniques of modeling, incision, dotted lines, and appliqué, imbued with aesthetic features that suggest the influence of the Mesoamerican civilizations. Among the highlights of the collection were the anthropomorphic statuettes of naturalist style (characterised by the closed eyes, shaped like coffee beans), the anthropomorphic and zoomorphic vessels, vases for ceremonial use and, above all, the so-called "caryatid vases" – complex ceramic vessels, endowed with bottlenecks, reliefs and pedestals decorated with anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines and fantastic beings. The museum also possesses several examples of Muiraquitãs, i.e. small statuettes carved in green gems, shaped like animals (mainly frogs) used as adornments or amulets.

Santarém culture. Anthropomorphic vase representing a seated man, 1000–1400 AD.

• Konduri culture, which reached their apex in the 7th century and met their decline in the 15th century, and inhabited the region between the Trombetas and Nhamundá rivers, in Pará. Although this culture kept an intense contact with the Santarém culture, their artistic production developed unique features. The Konduri collection is primarily composed of pottery, noted for the techniques of decoration such as incision and dotted lines, the lively polichromy, and the reliefs with anthropomorphic and zoomorphic motifs.
• Trombetas River culture, which inhabited the lower Amazon, in the state of Pará, near the region of Santarém. This culture, still largely unknown, was responsible for producing rare artifacts sculpted in polished stone and objects imbued with stylistic elements common to the Mesoamerican cultures. The museum collection preserves lithic artifacts of ceremonial use, as well as anthropomorphic and zoomorphic statuettes (zoolites representing fish and jaguars).
• Miracanguera culture, which flourished on the left bank of the Amazon river, in the region between Itacoatiara and Manaus, between the 9th and the 15th centuries. The museum preserved several examples of ceremonial pottery, mainly anthropomorphic funerary urns characterized by the presence of bulges, necks, and lids, used to store the ashes of the deceased, and other vessels related to funerary rituals. The Miracanguera pottery is distinguished for the presence of tabatinga layers (clay mixed with organic materials) and the eventual painted decoration of geometric motifs. The plastic composition frequently outlines specific details, such as human figures in a seated position, with the legs represented.

Trombetas River culture. Zoolite in the shape of a fish, w/d.

• Maracá culture, which lived in the region of Amapá between the 15th and the 18th centuries, represented in the collection by a group of typical funerary urns depicting male and female figurines in hieratic position, with head-shaped lids, as well as zoomorphic funerary urns depicting quadrupedal animals, originating from indigenous cemeteries located in the outskirts of the Maracá River. The Maracá pottery was frequently adorned with geometric patterns and polychromed with white, yellow, red, and black pigments. Ornaments in the members and the head of the figures expressed the social identity of the deceased.
• Tupi-Guaraní culture, which inhabited the Brazilian coast when the Portuguese arrived in the 16th century – subdivided into the group of the Tupinambá people (in the North, Northeast, and Southeast regions of Brazil) and the group of the Guaraní people (in the South region of Brazil and parts of Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay). The collection is predominantly composed of ceramics and lithic artifacts of daily use (such as pans, bowls, jars, and dishes) or ritual nature (mainly funerary urns). The Tupi-Guaraní pottery is characterized by its distinct polychromy (with predominance of red, black, and white pigments) and drawings of geometric and sinuous patterns.

The National Museum held the oldest known examples of indigenous mummies found in the Brazilian territory. The collection consisted of the body of an adult woman of approximately 25 years of age, and two children, one located at her feet, with an estimated age of twelve months, involved in a bundle, and a new-born, also covered by a mantle, positioned behind the head of the woman. This mummified set is composed of individuals that probably belonged to the group of the Botocudos (or Aimoré) people, of the Macro-Jê branch. They were found at the Caverna da Babilônia, a cavern located in the city of Rio Novo, interior of the state of Minas Gerais, in a farm that belonged to Maria José de Santana, who donated the mummies to emperor Pedro II. As an act of gratitude for this favor, Pedro II awarded Maria José with the title of Baroness of Santana.

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  Hunter-gatherer groups. Projectile point.

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  Sambaqui culture. Stone sculpture of a human figure

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  Santarém culture. Muiraquitã in the shape of a frog, 1000–1400 AD

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  Maracá culture. Anthropomorphic funerary urn, 1000–1500 AD

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  Marajoara urn

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  Ceramics

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  Statuettes

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  Marajora itens

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  Santarém itens

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  Luzia Woman

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  Maxakalisaurus

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  Recreation of dinosaur heads

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  Pompeii fresco

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  Pompeii fresco

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  Historic artwork of the interior

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  Ceiling artwork

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  Ceiling artwork

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  Sarcophagus of Sha-Amun-en-su

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  Artwork of an Egyptian sarcophagus

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  Butterflies on display

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  The throne room, on display in preserved rooms in the front wings of the museum

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  Part of the preserved throne room

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  Pre-Columbian artifacts

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  Pre-Columbian jars and ceramics

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  Tupi-guarani

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  Ancient Greek vases

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  Paleontological tools

Financial difficulties

From 2014 the museum faced budget cuts that dropped its maintenance to less than R$520,000 annually. The budget was so low, there was $0.01 to spend on each of the artifacts. The building fell into disrepair, evidenced by peeling wall material, exposed electrical wiring, and termite problem. By June 2018, the museum's 200th anniversary, it had reached a state of near-complete abandonment. There was an offer from The World Bank to purchase the museum for $80m, which was turned down because the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro would have to give up ownership.

2018 fire

The National Museum building burning behind the statue of Emperor Pedro II

The building was heavily damaged by a large fire which began about 19:30 local time (23:30 UTC) on September 2, 2018.

Although some items were saved, it is believed that 92.5 % of its archive of 20 million items was destroyed in the fire, though circa 1.5 million items are stored in a separate building, which were not damaged.

First responders fighting the fire were hindered by a lack of water. Rio's fire chief claimed that two nearby fire hydrants had insufficient water, leaving firefighters to resort to pumping water from a nearby lake. According to a CEDAE (Rio de Janeiro's Water and Sewerage State Company) employee, although the hydrants did have water, the water pressure was very low, due to the fact that the building is on top of a hill. Brazil President Michel Temer claimed the loss due to the fire to be too great to have been predicted.

Background

Museum Deputy Director Luiz Fernando Dias Daniel pointed to neglect by successive governments as a cause of the fire, saying that curators "fought with different governments to get adequate resources to preserve what is now completely destroyed" and that he felt "total dismay and immense anger." The museum lacked a fire sprinkler system, although there were smoke detectors and a few fire extinguishers. The museum did not receive the R$ 520,000 per year necessary for its maintenance since 2014, and it closed temporarily in 2015 when cleaning and security staff could no longer be paid. Repairs to a popular exhibit hall had to be crowd-funded, and the museum's maintenance budget had been cut by 90 per cent by 2018. There were visible signs of decay before the fire, such as peeling walls and exposed wiring. The museum celebrated its 200th anniversary in June 2018 in a situation of partial abandonment; no state ministers attended the occasion.

A large fire broke out shortly after the museum closed on 2 September 2018, reaching all three floors of the National Museum building. Firefighters were called at 19:30 local time (22:30 UTC) and arrived quickly at the scene. However, the fire chief reported that the two fire hydrants closest to the museum had no water, and trucks had to be sent to a nearby lake. According to the spokesman for the fire department, the fire crews went inside the burning building to rescue artifacts, despite there being no people inside, and they were able to remove items with the help of museum staff.

The fire was out of control by 21:00 (00:00 UTC 3 September), with great flames and occasional explosions, being fought by firefighters from four sectors. Dozens of people went to Quinta da Boa Vista to see the fire. A specialized team of firefighters entered the building at 21:15 to block areas still not hit by the flames and to evaluate the extent of the damage. However, by 21:30, the whole building had been engulfed by the fire, including exhibitions of Imperial rooms that were in the two areas at the front of the main building. The four security guards who were on duty at the museum managed to escape; first reports stated that there were no casualties, although a firefighter suffered burns to the fingers while trying to rescue the Luzia’s fossil.

Two fire engines were used with turntable ladders, with two water trucks taking turns to supply water. The Brazilian Marine Corps also provided fire engines, water trucks, and a decontamination unit from a nearby base. Pictures on social media showed artifacts being rescued from the burning building by firefighters and civilians.

At 22:00 (01:00 UTC 3 September), dozens of museum employees joined the fight against the flames. Two floors of the building were already destroyed by this time, and the roof had collapsed. Brazilian Culture Minister Sérgio Sá Leitão suggested that it was probably caused by either an electric fault or by a sky lantern accidentally landing on the building.

Damage to collection

Paço de São Cristóvão following the 2018 fire

A building area of 13600 m² with 122 rooms were destroyed. The building was started on 1803 with luso-lebanese Elie Antun Lubbus. According to museum officials, approximately 92.5 percent of the collection has been destroyed. The building was uninsured.

A spokesman for the fire department reported that pieces had been recovered from the blaze, due to efforts from firefighters and workers from the museum. Information about the condition of pieces that had been displayed started being reported as early as late 2 September, when the images of items had been shared. One of these was a Roman fresco from Pompeii that had survived the eruption of Vesuvius, but was lost in the fire.

Preservation director of the museum João Carlos Nara told reporters that "very little will be left" and that they would "have to wait until the firefighters have completed their work here in order to really assess the scale of it all." The next day, firefighters began more salvage work inside the museum, trying to rescue what they could from beneath the charred remains of the collapsed roof.

The collection relating to indigenous languages is believed to have been completely destroyed, including the recordings since 1958, the chants in all the extinct languages, the Curt Nimuendajú archives (papers, photos, negatives, the original ethnic-historic-linguistic map localizing all the ethnic groups in Brazil, the only extant record from 1945), and the ethnological and archeological references of all ethnic groups in Brazil since the 16th century. One of the linguistic researchers, Bruna Franchetto, who returned only to see her office as a pile of ash, criticised the fact that a project to back up the collection digitally had only just received funding and barely started, asking for any student who had ever come to the museum to scan or photocopy things for projects to send a copy back.

The fire destroyed the museum's collection of thousands of indigenous artifacts from the country's pre-Columbian Indo-American culture. The items include many indigenous peoples' remains as well as relics amassed in the personal collection of Pedro II. This collection also featured items from present native tribes, including "striking feather art by the Karajá people". There are only about 3,000 Karajá people left. Indigenous peoples expressed anger that there was no money given to a museum with indigenous history but "the city had recently managed to find a huge budget to build a brand new museum of tomorrow". Cira Gonda also confirmed shortly after the fire that the Indigenous linguistics collected had been completely destroyed, and so that original recordings of spoken word and song in dead languages have been lost, as well as other artifacts including those detailing the land and language distribution of tribes in Brazil.

Surviving items

The burned facade

Some items survived the fire. The Bendegó meteorite from the museum's collection of meteorites, which is the biggest iron meteorite ever found in Brazil, was unscathed. According to the National Geographic Society, being a "large, metallic rock" is what saved it from damage, as these qualities make it fire-resistant. From images and video of salvage after the fire, at least three other meteorites also survived undamaged. However another meteorite called Angra dos Reis is rediscovered among the debris. The meteorite is worth R$ 3 million and was lost in the rubble of the National Museum. With a mass 76 thousand times smaller than that of Bendegó, with mere 65 grams and 4 cm long, Angra dos Reis rock is the most valuable of the collection and was already the object of meteorite hunters. The Angra dos Reis takes its name because it was sighted by the doctor Joaquim Carlos Travassos, who passed in a boat in front of Praia Grande, in Angra and recovered it in the city of the coast of Rio de Janeiro in 1869. It was the first of a class of space travelers until very rare today. The object in smoke fell in the sea in front of the Church of Bonfim. Travassos ordered the slaves accompanying him to dive. Two pieces were rescued. One of them, with half a kilo, was entrusted to the Judge of Law of Angra dos Reis and, later, donated to the National Museum. In more than a century of research, this fragment was divided into small portions. The biggest one is buried in the rubble of the museum. Some Meteorites were found on October 19, 2018, inclusive the Angra dos Reais, however cooked.

Other fractions were lost in the experiments, but much smaller fractions of the Angra are still known, with a maximum of 2.5 grams, scattered in collections and owned by researchers. From the existing reports, Travassos presented the father-in-law with the second fragment rescued from the sea, which would have about 1 kg. Since then, the trail of this rock has been lost, but could be in the Catholic Church possession. Researchers suspect, due to the characteristics of the original stone fittings, that there is a third, possibly still submerged in the Angra sea. For more than a century, it was the only copy of which one had science. Until, in the late 1990s, other rocks were discovered or reclassified as angrito, a nomenclature given in reference to Angra dos Reis. According to The Meteoritical Society, there are only 28 known in the world. They are composed of minerals forged only at the very high temperatures of the planet's nucleus. They are the oldest magmatic rocks we know, formed when the solar system was still a cloud of gas and dust. It is estimated that the National Museum meteorite is 4.56 billion years old. For geologists and astronomers, the little rock is a book full of clues about the origin of the sun and the planets. It was in a box in a closet.

In the days following the fire, firefighters recovered several portraits from the upper floor of the museum, which had been burnt, smoke and water damaged but not destroyed. Cristiana Serejo, deputy director of the museum, also said that "part of the zoological collection, the library and some ceramics" had survived. Images were shared of research microscopes, freezers, and specimen jars being collected outside of the building by museum staff during the fire, next to a rusted hydrant. During the fire, part of the Zoology department pulled out mollusks and other marine specimens, and only stopped due to the imminent danger the fire posed. The fire did not reach an annex of the site where vertebrate specimens were kept, but due to a loss of electricity parts of the collection could become damaged.

During the salvage an intact skull that appeared to be that of Luzia Woman was found, and sent to a nearby scientific laboratory for analysis. Due to other skulls and fragments of bones were discovered in the remains of the building prompting a need for lab testing on the found items. On October 19, 2018 it was anounced that the Luzia skull indeed was found however as many fragments, which 80 % were identified as being part of the frontal (forehead and nose), side, bones that are more resistant and the fragment of a femur that also belonged to the fossil and was stored. A part of the box where Luiza's skull was, was also recovered. Though the assembly of them was postponed. The bones became white, because the earth along them were burned.

A portion of the museum's collection, specifically the herbarium, and fish and reptile species, was housed elsewhere and has not been affected. There was also a large scientific library within the museum, containing thousands of rare works. People on social media were reported to have found burnt pages from the library in the nearby streets; it was later confirmed that the library proper is housed in an adjacent building and was mostly undamaged. Some burnt pages, of unknown origin, were recovered by security guards. Nine Torah scrolls from the 15th century had previously been on display but were in the library at the time and survived.

Reactions

A protester outside the museum the day after the fire; the sign reads "200 years of history, 20 million items, reduced to ashes".

Brazil's president, Michel Temer, said that "the loss of the National Museum is incalculable for Brazil. Today is a tragic day for our country's museology. Two hundred years of work, research and knowledge were lost. The value of our history cannot be measured now, due to the damage to the building that housed the Royal Family during the Empire. It is a sad day for all Brazilians." His statement was echoed by Rio Mayor Marcelo Crivella, who called for rebuilding stating: "It's a national obligation to reconstruct it from the ashes, recompose every detail of the paintings and photos. Even if they are not original, they will continue to be a reminder of the royal family that gave us independence, the empire and the first constitution and national unity".

The archaeologist Zahi Hawass says that the tragedy legitimizes the movement for the repatriation of Egyptian objects in museums around the world and that if museums are not able to guarantee the safety and conservation of the objects, the archaeologist argues that to be returned to the native land. Although the collection of the National Museum was not targeted by Egyptian archaeologists, Hawass says that the destruction of the collection strengthens the movement for the repatriation of objects and that UNESCO observes countries with overseas collections and overseas museums to control them, to ensure that objects are properly protected and restored.

French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his condolences on Twitter at the event. He offered to send experts to help rebuild the museum.

Brazilian environmentalist and politician Marina Silva called the fire "a lobotomy of the Brazilian memory".

News of the fire quickly spread through the city of Rio de Janeiro, and protesters turned up at the gates in the early hours of Monday morning. Initial reports suggested that there were 500 people, forming a chain around the still-smoking building. Some of the protesters tried to climb over fencing into the museum grounds; the police who were called to attend, in full riot gear, threw tear gas bombs into the crowds. The public were later allowed to enter the grounds.

A group of museum studies students from the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro called for the public to send in any photographs or videos of the destroyed collections. Their appeal received 14,000 videos, photos, and drawings of the museum's exhibitions within hours.

Cultural institutions

The president of the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage, Kátia Bogéa, said that "It's a national and worldwide tragedy. Everybody can see that this is not a loss for the Brazilian people, but for the whole humanity" and commented that it was "a predictable tragedy, because we've known for a long time that Brazilian cultural heritage has no budget".

Museums around the world sent their condolences. In the UK, the British Library said "our hearts go out to the staff and users of [the National Museum] of Brazil" and called the fire "a reminder of the fragility and preciousness of our shared global heritage"; London's Natural History Museum, the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and the Smithsonian Institution were among other institutions expressing their sorrow. The head of the Australian Museum said that she was "shocked", "devastated", and "distraught". Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities expressed both solidarity with the museum and concern over the status of more than 700 ancient Egyptian artifacts that were housed in the building. It offered to send experts, if requested by the Brazilian government, to assist the National Museum in restoring the damaged pieces.

Salvage efforts

Artist's depiction of the planned museum roof

On 12 September 2018, people began implementing a plan to temporarily shelter and work with what is currently the ruins of the Museum:

• Wooden structures, including a metallic wall, completely surrounding the São Cristovão Palace to protect what remains of the building
• Containment measures for the building to avoid risk of landslide
• An improvised roof to protect against rain water
• Modules and containers outside to serve as temporary research laboratory space

This plan is expected to cost R$ 10 million, offered by Brazilian Government as an emergency budget. The contracted company to reinstall the walls of building is Concrejato at a value of R$ 8.998.057,66 and Unesco says that the reconstruction would take 10 years to get ready. Researchers are recreating 300 parts of the collection of the National Museum, including the skull of Luzia, with 3D printers. The studies are being resumed in a laboratory of the National Institute of Technology (INT), by master's and doctoral students of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

A digitally scanned page from the museum's Brazilian ethnology archives

The museum is still alive doing some Festivals called Museu Nacional Vive or Museum lives to public in tents mounted in front of current under construction improvements to the burned headquarters, with exposition of fossils, living snakes and taxidermied animals like Pterosaurs and Armadillo among others. Museum would do a permanent exposition outside. Some opinions say it would take R$100 millions to rebuild the main dependencies. With the exception of a few metal cabinets intact, there are only charred fragments. Around 80% of the roof and 60% of the floors have been affected. The one million euro aid announced by Germany would allow the installation of laboratories for analysis of archaeological finds. Museum director said there is a collective effort to rebuild the collection, pursue research, and plan the reconstruction of the institution housing six major graduate programs. He reported that classes, thesis defenses and dissertations were resumed and knowledge production did not stop. "The National Museum has lost part of its collection but has not lost the ability to create knowledge and do science," said the director. The social anthropology library, one of the most important in Latin America and totally destroyed by the fire, has received a considerable amount of donations, including the personal library of Rio de Janeiro researcher Gilberto Velho (1945-2012), who was dean of the Department of Anthropology of the museum until his death. Museum zoologists have already gone to the field to collect new specimens in an attempt to repopulate the invertebrate collection, one of the richest (with 5 million copies only in the case of insects) and harder hit by the fire. Before a revamped headquarters is available, Kellner said the museum's intention is to re-display its collection - still considerable - to the public. There is a collective funding campaign to allow the institution's loan back to schools and the plan to revitalize the museum's botanical garden so that it houses a small exhibition that would receive visitors again. "It would be an illusion, even a frivolous thing, to say that the old collection will be reconstituted, but we will continue to fulfill our role," said the director. It was also informed they plan to keep part of ruins as historical exposition with a high modern structure of equipment inside.

The Facade and the exterior of the National Museum will be preserved in the reconstruction works, but the building will be another, said the UFRJ's dean, Roberto Leher. The recovery of the building will take into account a new concept of architecture. The cost will still depend on the concept of the museum. Technicians focus are on 3D modeling and a term of reference. New materials with low-carbon, energy-less, environmentally friendly will be used because is a science museum. It has Iphan's endorsement (since the property is overturned) to do the reconstruction taking this model into account. The new project could be with high roof space or with more slabs, depending the approval of R$ 100 million or € 22.610.000,00 in the budget of 2019.

Donations

• Each of 140 geoparks of UNESCO's conservation areas will collect and send a lithic, fossil, or cultural artifact to Brazil. This means 140 objects will complement the future collection.

• On October 17, 2018 Secretary of the Patrimony of the Union, Sidrack Correia confirmed the donation of the area of 49,300 square meters, that is about a kilometer from the museum, to install laboratories Containers in 45 days, budgeted at R$ 2.2 million, purchased with funds from the TJRJ Pecunary Penalty Fund to be used by museum researchers. It also serves as a center for students visitation. Part of the total, 10 thousand square meters will be for the Justice Court to install its transport area.

• The National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI), linked to the Ministry of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services (MDIC), concluded on October 17, 2018 the donation of 1,164 items, mostly mobile, to the National Museum. The furniture, which includes tables, chairs, workstations, drawers and cabinets, aid in the restructuring of the Museum. The idea of the donation came from the need for the institute to free itself of idle equipment that was in its old headquarters, in Edifício A Noite, located in Praça Mauá, the port area of Rio de Janeiro, to allow the return of the property to the Secretariat of the Patrimony of the Union (SPU), which should had been empty. Part of the furniture will be taken to the Botanical Garden of the National Museum, located in Quinta da Boa Vista, where some sectors are working. Others will be used in the direction of the museum, in the services of museology and teaching assistance, and in the departments of invertebrates, geology, paleontology, entomology and ethnology.

Political influences

The director of the National Museum, Alexander W. A. Kellner, issued an open letter addressed to presidential candidates Jair Messias Bolsonaro and Fernando Haddad on October 15, 2018 Monday evening, which, along two pages, reinforces the historical importance of the institution, and recalls that his survival is tied to the responsibility of those who hold "power in the hands."

The document is also destined for the National Congress, where he had regularly gone to ask for a public hearing, during which he will ask for the inclusion of resources for the museum, and for the next budget. Without these resources, he says the institution will end up for years, harming decades of research.

In the letter, the director says that many reflect on what could have been done differently to avoid a disaster that led to the loss of an invaluable patrimony, involving millions of cultural and scientific pieces. And he adds that "others should (or should) be deeply reflecting on why, being in a position of decision, they did not act firmly in triggering actions that would have avoided the absurdity of that loss."

On October 17, 2018 the Director of Museum had a meeting with federal deputies to solve first R$ 50 million to reinstall the front part of Palace.

See also

• Paço de São Cristóvão, the historic palace that houses the National Museum
• National Historical Museum of Brazil

External links

• National Museum website
• National Museum of Brazil at the Wayback Machine (archive index)
• The National Museum and its European employees Jens Andermann
• The National Museum at Rio de Janeiro Jens Andermann
• Guided visit to museum on YouTube (in Portuguese)