11 Dec 2018
Destroyed Rio National Museum to be rebuilt with help of Mexican experts
BY Luke Cloherty
Experts from Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) will work alongside members of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro to help rebuild Brazil's Museu Nacional.
Blamed on funding cuts and the poor state of the 200-year-old building – a former imperial palace – the museum was gutted by a major fire in September, reducing the building and much of its contents, including precious artefacts, to ashes. A modernisation plan agreed in June would have seen a sprinkler system installed at a cost of US$5.3m (€4.6m, £4.2m). However, this would only have taken place in October after the country's elections.
The joint collaboration between INAH and Rio's University will see the museum resurrected. The work, say the two bodies, will be split into four phases over a period of five years, with both working towards the goal of fully rebuild the museum.
"We'll set out a policy of reconstruction, of collections, of reinventing collections and seeking the tradition of ancestral knowledge from periods before colonisation," said Roberto Leher, director of the Federal University of Rio De Janeiro.
"All of that will be very important so that we can rebuild the wonderful tradition of the National Museum of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro with a new way of seeing and with new collections."
INAH director Diedo Prieto added: "As you saw, the flames were terrible. The fire left practically only a shell.
"But we have to recover the historic building and, although Brazil has great architects, they do not have the experience working with historical monuments that INAH has had for 80 years."
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