Brazil's 200-year-old national museum hit by huge fire

[brooklynite]

Source: BBC

A huge fire has broken out at the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, the oldest scientific institution in the country.

Firefighters are tackling the blaze at the building, which contains more than 20 million items in its collection.

It is not yet clear if anyone has been injured in Sunday's fire.

The museum, which once served as the residence for the Portuguese royal family, celebrated its 200-year anniversary earlier this year.



Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-45392668

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[Docreed2003]

1. Heartbreaking, irreplaceable loss...nt

[greyl]

2. Live news feed here:

[bluedigger]

3. Just came to post same.

Terrible. Looks like a total loss.

[lunasun]

4. Luzia woman is lost now among so much more

https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/04/21/luzia-woman-a-skeleton-of-a-woman-that-is-one-of-the-oldest-human-remains-in-the-americas/

[Judi Lynn]

5. So sad. What a tragic evening for the country. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

6. Fire Engulfs a Brazilian Museum, Threatening Hundreds of Years of History

Fire Engulfs a Brazilian Museum, Threatening Hundreds of Years of History

By Shasta Darlington and Sarah Mervosh
Sept. 2, 2018

A fire engulfed the National Museum of Brazil on Sunday night, ravaging the stately, 200-year-old museum in Rio de Janeiro and threatening the years of history encapsulated inside.

Aerial video posted by the television station Globo showed roaring flames and billowing smoke overtaking the large museum. Windows on multiple floors across the museum displayed a burning orange color. In other shots, the glow of the fire backlit the museum and lit up the dark night sky.

Officials did not believe that anyone had been injured. The blaze started about 7:30 p.m. local time, when the museum was closed, fire officials said. Several hours later, firefighters were still working to put out the enormous fire.

Michel Temer, the president of Brazil, tweeted that it was “a sad day for all Brazilians.”

More:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/02/world/americas/national-museum-brazil-fire.html

[dalton99a]

7. Horrible loss.

[cab67]

8. this is heartbreaking

I did some research there a couple of years ago. The specimens I worked with are probably now lost.

Even worse, my friends and colleagues there have lost everything they had there - their libraries, notes, and whatever specimens they were working with.

[demmiblue]

9. Devastating.

Thread on Twitter:

Link to tweet

[sl8]

10. Fire hydrants weren't working.

From https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fire-national-museum-brazil-rio-de-janeiro-today-2018-09-02/

"Cultural tragedy": Massive inferno engulfs 200-year-old museum in Brazil
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Last Updated Sep 2, 2018 11:46 PM EDT

RIO DE JANEIRO -- A massive fire tore through a 200-year-old museum in Rio de Janeiro late Sunday, lighting up the night and sending large plumes of smoke into the air. Firefighters worked to put out the blaze at the esteemed National Museum in northern Rio, which houses artifacts from Egypt, Greco-Roman art and some of the first fossils found in Brazil.

In a statement, the museum said the blaze began around 7:30 p.m. There were no reported injuries and the fire began after it had closed to the public. It wasn't immediately clear how the fire began.

In a statement, President Michel Temer said it was "a sad day for all Brazilians."
"Two hundred years of work, investigation and knowledge have been lost," said Temer. "The value of our history cannot be measured by the damage to the building."

...

Robadey said firefighters got off to a slow start because the two fire hydrants closest to the museum were not functioning. Instead, trucks had to be sent to get water from a nearby lake.

...

More at link.

[Judi Lynn]

11. Government cuts blamed for Brazil National Museum inferno

3 SEP 2018

Brazilian officials on Monday blamed years of government cutbacks for an inferno that gutted the treasured National Museum, described by President Michel Temer as a "tragic" loss of knowledge and heritage.

Even before the embers had begun to cool Monday, grief over the huge cultural loss gave way to anger at funding cuts many say are threatening Brazil's multi-cultural heritage.

The museum's destruction caused a social media outcry and a crowd of around 500 protesters gathered to form a human chain around its still-smoldering remains.

"It's not enough just to cry, it is necessary that the federal government, which has resources, helps the museum to reconstruct its history," director Alexandre Keller said in front of the devastated building.

More:
https://www.afp.com/en/news/205/government-cuts-blamed-brazil-national-museum-inferno-doc-18t9ph1

[Judi Lynn]

12. Cuts blamed for devastating fire that destroys Rio's National Museum

4 Sep, 2018 7:53am

Washington Post
By: Alex Horton

Before the concept of countries existed, Luzia walked the broad savanna of what is now south-central Brazil.

Her remains were buried in the Vermelha Cave around 11,500 years ago until they were found and studied in the 20th century. Researchers later said her existence challenged the basic understanding of how humans migrated, and when.

Luzia's remains are among nearly 20 million items feared destroyed after a blaze roared through Rio de Janeiro's National Museum yesterday, in an inferno that Brazilian officials and scientists are describing as an unbearable erasure of human history.

The fire was like "a lobotomy of the Brazilian memory," said Marina Silva, a former environment minister and candidate in the upcoming presidential election, according to the Guardian. Video of the blaze showed twin columns of towering fire reaching against black sky.

More:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12118751

[Judi Lynn]

13. Fire risks were known, says Brazil National Museum employee

A fire has claimed the vast majority of more than 20 million artifacts at Brazil's biggest museum. Police deployed tear gas to control crowds who were demanding entry to inspect the damage.

Date 03.09.2018



The flames finally went out at Brazil's National Museum in Rio de Janeiro on Monday, after the loss of most of its more than 20 million artifacts. As Brazilian police used tear gas and pepper spray to keep back angry crowds surrounding the ruins and trying to force their way in, officials from the museum said that the dangers had been well known.

Vice Director Luiz Fernando Dias Duarte told Brazilian TV that the risk of fire was so present in museum employees' minds that they would unplug everything in their offices every day, and that they had recently been given training from firefighters on how to handle an emergency. Duarte said that the damage to the collection was extensive, saying highly heat-resistant meteorites were among the few items to survive.

The blaze, the cause of which remains unknown, began on Sunday evening and destroyed the museum's collections of art and artifacts dating all the way back to ancient Egypt, including the oldest human skull ever found in the western hemisphere. The museum also housed a comprehensive collection on Brazilian history, from Portuguese colonization in the 1500s until independence in the 1800s.

"It's not enough just to cry, it is necessary that the federal government, which has resources, helps the museum to reconstruct its history," museum director Alexandre Keller said in front of the burned-out building.

More:
https://www.dw.com/en/fire-risks-were-known-says-brazil-national-museum-employee/a-45337811

[muriel_volestrangler]

14. Brazil museum fire: Prized 'Luzia' fossil skull recovered

But on Friday the museum's director announced that 80% of Luzia's skull fragments had been identified.

The human remains - the oldest ever found in Latin America - were viewed as the jewel of the museum's collection.

The museum staff said they were confident they could recover the rest of Luzia's skull and attempt reassembly.

"They've suffered alterations, damage but we're very optimistic at the find and all it represents," archaeologist Claudia Rodrigues was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-45926733