The National Museum of Brazil was Engulfed in Fire

History of centuries ruined in minutes. That is the story of Brazil’s National Museum which was destroyed in a fire. The museum was the home of thousands of artifacts and priceless possessions of history. The Sunday fire has reportedly caused a lot of damage. Firefighters from seven stations pulled in to give the support in extinguishing the fire. The firefighters had to extend their service all night to finally calm down the blaze.

The museum building was 200 years old and the artifacts present there was no doubt priceless. A museum getting damaged is not just a damage to the building but also to those objects which were being stored with utmost care. The President of Brazil, Michel Temer said that the loss incurred is so much that it cannot be counted in numbers.

The museum history

This museum that is basically located in Rio de Janeiro was a royal palace in the first place. It was founded on June 6, 1818, by João VI of Portugal. He was a part of the Imperial Royal Family and when he first came to Rio De Janeiro, founded this palace. 200 years ago, the palace got transformed into the museum. As per sources, the museum had at least 20 million artifacts, with exhibitions in archaeology, ethnology, biological anthropology, geology, zoology, and paleontology.

The museum had artifacts from Greco Roman Art, Egypt, and some of the first fossils found in the grounds of Brazil. There were objects of royal art and workmanship of old times which were a lineage, carried forward by the regal family. There were exquisite accumulations existing in the House of the Birds, collections of mineralogy, known as the Werner Collection, and ethnographic pieces from the Brazilian territories. At the current time, with a pertinent social and logical legacy, the museum was viewed as the biggest regular historical center in Latin America.

The accumulation of paleo-history of the National Museum was included in excess of 100,000 articles, covering a few civic establishments that lived in America, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, since the Paleolithic Age until the nineteenth century. The accumulation is subdivided into four fundamental portions: Ancient Egypt which consisted of stone carvings, mummies, statues, and sarcophagi. Along with that  it also had parts of Mediterranean societies, Pre-Columbian archaic exploration like mummified Andean skeletons, and Brazilian prehistoric studies — this last core, efficiently assembled since 1867, is the biggest section of the archeological gathering, and additionally the most critical gathering of its topology on the planet, covering the historical backdrop of Pre-Cabraline Brazil in an extremely elaborated way and shielding the absolute most imperative material records identified with Brazilian paleontology. It is, subsequently, a gathering of significant logical esteem, and the question of a few works of essential research, theories, expositions, and monographs.

“Luzia” is the 12,000-year-old skeleton which is also the oldest in America, stored here along with fossils, dinosaurs, and a meteorite that was found in 1784.

The accident is a huge loss

On the account of the fire, the president expressed deep grief and said that the loss is huge. Years of hard work, research and knowledge burned to ashes is much more than any materialistic loss.

Soon after the news of fire went in the news, Marco Aurelio Caldas who is museologist and had been a part of this museum for 9 years arrived at the location. He was deeply shattered as he stated the museum as a 200-year-old scientific institution which has been the oldest pride of Latin America. A lot of people’s hard work and life went there treasuring all those priceless objects. As the museum was burning in front of people’s eyes and they were seen crying out of grief. The crowd consisted of researchers, workers, academicians, and interns who had been a part of this museum. They accumulated in the neighborhood and could do nothing but see the institution getting dissolved in flames.

Some sources say that the firefighters did not have enough water that would save the building on time. Colonel Roberto Robaday, the fire chief in Rio commented on this fact. He confirmed that the report is true as they were out of water because the two hydrants were dry. The nearest ones were dry and the water had to be transported from other sources. It took time to bring the water tricks and to collect water from the nearby lake to use them over the blaze. He also mentioned that such an old building needed a lot of maintenance and fire security checks that were absent.

Luiz Duarte, the vice-director of the museum said that the government is responsible for the accident. He reported that on the 200th birthday of the museum, none of the state ministers appeared to render their support. He said that recently the museum confirmed a deal with the BNDES for funds where fire prevention was included. But the accident seems an irony to the situation. Reports say that some of the archival section could be saved as it was transported to a different building. But maximum of the historical treasures is ruined in the fire.

As per the calendar plan of the museum, this year the museum would have been the host of a series of activities and events. All of them were associated with the celebration of the museum’s bicentennial year which was celebrated this year on June 6.

The cause of the fire is not yet known as investigations are going on over the matter. The director of the museum, João Carlos Nara said that this damage is an irreparable damage. The place which was once the abode of the Portuguese royal lineage is now under the ashes as the prominent research institution integrated with the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and the famous historical institution of the country.