{"id":1874,"date":"2018-09-14T01:09:19","date_gmt":"2018-09-14T01:09:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/?p=1874"},"modified":"2018-09-14T01:09:19","modified_gmt":"2018-09-14T01:09:19","slug":"double-blow-to-brazil-museum-neglect-then-flames","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/2018\/09\/14\/double-blow-to-brazil-museum-neglect-then-flames\/","title":{"rendered":"Double Blow to Brazil Museum: Neglect, Then Flames"},"content":{"rendered":"
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RIO DE JANEIRO \u2014 The stately national museum, once home to Brazil\u2019s royal family, was still smoldering at sunrise on Monday when scores of researchers, museum workers and anthropologists began gathering outside, dressed in black.<\/p>\n

Some sobbed as they began taking stock of the irreplaceable losses: Thousands, perhaps millions, of significant artifacts had been reduced to ashes Sunday night in\u00a0a devastating fire<\/a>. The hall that held a 12,000-year-old skeleton known as Luzia, the oldest human remains discovered in the Americas, was destroyed.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of residents joined them beneath an overcast sky that matched the national mood. They had come not only to mourn but also to protest Brazil\u2019s near-abandonment of museums and other basic public services. Many saw the fire as a symbol for a city, and nation, in distress.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a moment of intense pain,\u201d Maurilio Oliveira, who has worked as a paleoartist at the National Museum of Brazil for 19 years, said as he stood in front of the ravaged building. \u201cWe can only hope to recover our history from the ashes. Now, we cry and get to work.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Just a few years ago, Rio de Janeiro appeared to be on the cusp of a golden era. As it prepared for the 2016 Olympics, the city underwent a multibillion-dollar transformation. Real estate prices soared, the public transit system was revamped and cranes towered over much of the city.<\/p>\n

It was supposed to be Brazil\u2019s shining moment on the world stage. Instead, a vast corruption scandal that has tarred countless national figures, combined with a devastating recession, set in motion a period of political instability. Soon, those dreams seemed little more than a mirage.<\/p>\n

In recent years, state and city governments in Brazil have failed to pay police officers and doctors on time. Public libraries and other cultural centers have shut down. The ranks of the unemployed and homeless have swelled.<\/p>\n

Perhaps no other part of Brazil has felt the whiplash quite as intensely as Rio de Janeiro. Early this year, as deadly violence soared, its governor took the unprecedented step of asking the federal government to\u00a0put the military in charge<\/a>\u00a0of public safety.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The museum itself was not spared, falling into disrepair as the country struggled. It got so bad,\u00a0local news media<\/a>\u00a0reports said, that professors who worked at the museum resorted to collecting money to help pay for cleaning services. Beyond a few fire extinguishers and smoke detectors, the museum did not have a fire-suppression system, officials said.<\/p>\n

Outside the ruins of the museum Monday morning, Emmanuele Medeiros, 19, a history student who had come to join the protests, lamented what has happened to her country.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe city was reduced to ashes,\u201d Ms. Medeiros said. \u201cThere are no doctors in the hospitals; teachers in schools don\u2019t make a living wage. It\u2019s very sad because it could have all been avoided if it wasn\u2019t for all this corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n

It took more than six hours for 80 firefighters from 21 stations to extinguish the blaze. On Monday, they scoured through piles of ashes searching for salvageable pieces from a museum that had housed a trove of indigenous artifacts, as well as Latin America\u2019s pre-eminent collection of Egyptian mummies and Roman frescoes from the ancient city of Pompeii.<\/p>\n

Cristiana Serejo, the deputy director of the museum,\u00a0told reporters<\/a>\u00a0on Monday afternoon that about 10 percent of the museum\u2019s collection had been spared. Among the surviving materials were a large meteorite and a portion of the zoology exhibit.<\/p>\n

Mr. Oliveira, the paleoartist, said museum officials were all but resigned to the loss of the Luzia remains \u2014 perhaps the museum\u2019s most iconic piece.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe are strongly hoping that she survived, but it\u2019s very difficult,\u201d he said. \u201cThe skull is very fragile. The only thing that could have saved it is if a piece of wood or something fell and protected it.\u201dImage<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The fire wiped out years\u2019 worth of research by botanists, marine biologists, paleontologists and entomologists. Upon hearing that the compound was on fire, some employees, including Ms. Serejo, rushed inside and managed to save some items from their work stations as the fire spread.<\/p>\n

Officials said the blaze may have been caused by a paper balloon propelled by a small flame that may have landed on the museum\u2019s roof. Such balloons are illegal, but are commonly launched during celebrations across Brazil. Investigators were also exploring whether a short circuit in a laboratory may have been the culprit.<\/p>\n

Firefighters were hampered by the type of infrastructure breakdowns that are all too common in this megacity, where raw sewage often seeps into the ocean and the streets. The fire hydrants closest to the museum didn\u2019t have water, which forced firefighters to dredge water from a nearby pond, they said.<\/p>\n

Ms. Serejo also said the smoke detectors in the building had not been working.<\/p>\n

S\u00e9rgio S\u00e1 Leit\u00e3o, Brazil\u2019s culture minister, acknowledged that the recession had hollowed the coffers of several museums in the country. The fire, he said, occurred just weeks before the National Museum was to receive $5 million for an overhaul that included a fire-suppression system.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n