Fire at the National Museum of Brazil - fire on September 2, 2018 in the palace of San Cristovan ( Rio de Janeiro ), where the National Museum of Brazil was located . The museum housed more than 20 million items, of which, according to preliminary estimates, nine tenths were destroyed by fire. The cause of the fire that occurred around 19:30 local time (23:30 UTC ), as of September 12, has not been established.
Content
Fire
The fire covered all three floors of the building [1] [2] . People were not hurt, but fire quickly destroyed almost the entire collection. According to authorities, the cause of the fire was negligence. The tragedy could have been avoided if the previously proposed project for the reorganization of the museum could be implemented. Museum staff have repeatedly complained about funding cuts and the dilapidated museum building. In June of the same year, the museum celebrated its 200th anniversary [2] [3] .
Consequences
The museum possessed one of the largest collections in the Americas, consisting of animals, insects, minerals, Native American dishes, Egyptian and South American mummies and antiquities, archaeological artifacts, meteorites, fossils and many other exhibits. Among them were ancient Egyptian fragments of relief images, masks, figurines of deities from bronze, stone and wood, boxes for canopies , alabaster bowls, funerary cones , jewelry, amulets , etc. [4] [5] [6] . The exposition included the skeleton of an ancient woman , numbering 12 thousand years and being the oldest human skeleton ever found on the American continent [3] .
Brazilian President Michel Temer considered the fire a “countless” loss of the country's historical and cultural heritage [7] [8] .
The mayor of Rio de Janeiro Marcello Crivella called to restore from the ashes, to recreate, even in copies, exhibits that preserve the memory of the royal family, which gave the people of Brazil independence, empire and constitution [9] . The Brazilian politician and public figure Marina Silva called the fire a lobotomy of Brazilian memory [8] .
Archaeologist Zahi Hawass recalled the need to repatriate Egyptian artifacts and called on UNESCO to take control of the museums to determine if the artifacts are safe and secure in them [10] .
The news of the fire swiftly flew over Rio de Janeiro. Hundreds of indignant residents gathered at the gates of the cooling museum building on an early Monday morning [11] .
World museums expressed condolences over the tragedy. President of the Union of Museums of Russia , Director General of the State Hermitage Mikhail Piotrovsky called the fire at the National Museum of Brazil a “cultural tragedy” and expressed the Museum community’s willingness to provide professional assistance to Brazilian colleagues [12] .
Museum students from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro encouraged people to send any photos and videos of the destroyed museum collection. For an hour they received about 14 thousand videos, photographs and drawings of exhibits [13] .
On September 12, 2018, a plan was announced to protect the ruins of the museum, suggesting [14] :
- erection of a wooden structure around the museum to protect it,
- strengthening the building from the threat of a landslide ,
- wide rain canopy
- Adjacent modular buildings serving as temporary laboratories,
- Spending 10 million Brazilian reais .
See also
- Notice on the National Museum - Portuguese Wikipedia project, which is a collection of museum exhibits.
- Butantan Institute (2010 fire)
Notes
- ↑ Photo: Everything burned down: Brazil lost the National Museum of the country , Gazeta.Ru (September 3, 2018). Date of appeal September 3, 2018.
- ↑ 1 2 The National Museum of Brazil (Rus.) Burned out , Meduza (September 3, 2018). Date of appeal September 3, 2018.
- ↑ 1 2 The National Museum of Brazil , the Russian BBC Service (September 3, 2018) burned down in Rio de Janeiro . Date of appeal September 3, 2018.
- ↑ Barkos, Margaret Marchiori. Egiptomania - O Egito no Brasil . - São Paulo: Paris Ed, 2004. - S. 31–35. - 190 p. - ISBN 8572442618 .
- ↑ Brancaglion Junior, Antonio. Revelando o Passado: estudos da coleção egípcia do Museu Nacional / Fábio de Souza & Bustamente, Regina. - Memoria & festa. - Rio de Janeiro: Mauad Editora, 2007. - S. 75–80.
- ↑ Guia de Visitação do Museu Nacional . www.museunacional.ufrj.br. Date of treatment May 4, 2018.
- ↑ Incêndio no Museu Nacional: veja a repercussão (br. Port.) , G1 (September 2, 2018). Date of appeal September 17, 2018.
- ↑ 1 2 Dom Phillips. Brazil museum fire: 'incalculable' loss as 200-year-old Rio institution gutted . the Guardian (3 September 2018). Date of appeal September 17, 2018.
- ↑ With the flames barely out, the finger-pointing begins as massive fire engulfs famed Rio museum . Associated Press . latimes.com (September 3, 2018). Date of appeal September 17, 2018.
- ↑ Sociedade que edita a National Geographic quer ajudar Museu Nacional (Brod. Port.) , Agência Brasil (September 6, 2018). Date of appeal September 17, 2018.
- ↑ Brazil museum fire: Outrage grows as government blamed for 'tragic' blaze ( SBS News) (September 3, 2018). Date of appeal September 17, 2018.
- ↑ M.B. Piotrovsky. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Brazil to the Russian Federation . Union of Russian Museums . www.souzmuseum.ru (09/03/2018). Date of appeal September 17, 2018.
- ↑ Dom Phillips. Project to salvage images of collection lost in fire as Brazil mourns museum . the Guardian (12 September 2018). Date of appeal September 17, 2018.
- ↑ Museu Nacional é cercado com tapumes dez dias após incêndio - Agência Estado - UOL Notícias (div. Port) , UOL Notícias . Date of appeal September 17, 2018.
Links
- In Brazil, the National Museum burned down. Valuable exhibits destroyed - news in the presentation of the BBC .