Anger smoulders in Brazil after much-loved museum burns down

The 200-year-old National Museum of Brazil, in Rio de Janeiro, which caught ablaze on Sunday. Picture: Reuters

The 200-year-old National Museum of Brazil, in Rio de Janeiro, which caught ablaze on Sunday. Picture: Reuters

Published Sep 4, 2018

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Rio de Janeiro - Anger smoldered in Brazil

on Monday after a fire destroyed the National Museum, a

cherished historical repository that lacked a sprinkler system

and which had suffered years of financial neglect, making its

destruction a "tragedy foretold."

Outside the entrance to the elegant park housing the

200-year-old former Imperial Palace, police in riot gear shot

tear gas into a small, angry crowd that tried to enter, live TV

images showed. Later, police granted access to the site's

perimeter, which protesters surrounded in a symbolic "embrace."

The rumbling tensions reflect anger over the destruction on

Sunday of the much-loved yet dilapidated museum, which suffered

from declining federal funding. It stirred emotions in Brazil,

whose angry electorate is reeling from a frail economy,

widespread graft and rising violence ahead of an unpredictable

presidential election in October.

"Our community is very mobilized, and very indignant," said

Roberto Leher, rector of the Rio de Janeiro federal university,

which administers the museum. "We all knew the building was

vulnerable."

Brazil's culture minister Sergio Leitao told the Estado de

S.Paulo newspaper the blaze was likely caused by either an

electrical short-circuit or a homemade paper hot-air balloon

that may have landed on the roof. Launching such balloons is a

long-held tradition in Brazil and they routinely cause fires.

Both possibilities were being considered, Culture Ministry

spokeswoman Roberta de Oliveira Ribeiro said in an email, but

the cause would not be known until an investigation was

completed. The Rio de Janeiro federal university did not

immediately respond to a question on whether the museum was

insured.

The museum's pastel-yellow facade remained standing after

the blaze, but a peek inside its giant windows revealed a

roofless interior of blackened hallways and charred beams. Every

so often, firemen emerged with a pot or a painting they had

managed to rescue.

An aerial view of the National Museum of Brazil after a fire burnt it in Rio de Janeiro. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes

The museum's vice director, Luiz Duarte, told Globo TV the

institution had been neglected by successive federal

governments. He said a 21.6 million-real ($5.23 million)

financing plan with the state-run development bank BNDES

announced in June included, ironically, a plan to install modern

fire protection equipment.

The Rio fire department's commander, Roberto Robadey, said

the hydrants outside the building were dry when firefighters

arrived, forcing them to turn to a nearby lake and tanker trucks

for water.

"Yesterday was one of the saddest days of my career," he

said.

The museum is not the first to burn down in Brazil, where

public money for cultural projects has been drying up after a

deep recession. In 2015, for example, a blaze destroyed the

prestigious Museum of the Portuguese Language in Sao Paulo.

In 2016, President Michel Temer was forced to reinstate the

Culture Ministry after an outcry from some of the country's top

artists over his policy to fold it into the Education Ministry

to save money.

On Monday, his office said he had met with representatives

from major Brazilian companies and banks to look into ways to

help rebuild the museum "as soon as possible."

Education Minister Rossieli Soares told reporters outside

the burned-out building on Monday that the federal government

would spend an initial 15 million reais, in two separate

installments, to restore the structure and rebuild its

collection. He added that Brazil would seek international help,

and was already in discussions with UNESCO.

The museum's decline did not happen overnight, said Renato

Rodriguez Cabral, a teacher in the geology and paleontology

department.

"This was a tragedy foretold," Cabral said, hugging

distraught students and coworkers who poured into the site on

Monday. "Successive governments would not provide funds, they

would not invest in infrastructure."

Between 2013 and 2017, the National Museum in Rio's federal

funding fell about a third, to 643,567 reais, according to

official budget data. The funding cuts were particularly acute

this year, with the museum receiving just 98,115 reais between

January and August.

Late last year,, after a termite attack shuttered a room

hosting the bones of the Maxakalisaurus dinosaur, the National

Museum was forced to turn to a crowdfunding site to seek funds

for reopening the exhibit.

It raised nearly 60,000 reais, almost double its goal.

The National Museum's collection ranged from archeological

finds to historical memorabilia.

The museum, which is tied to the Rio de Janeiro federal

university and the education ministry, was founded in 1818 and

housed several landmark collections, including Egyptian

artifacts and the oldest human fossil found in Brazil.

The destruction of the building, where emperors once lived,

was an "incalculable loss for Brazil," Temer said in a

statement.

His office did not respond to requests for comment on

widespread allegations of neglect. 

Reuters

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