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| Brazil's National Museum blaze blamed on austerity amid Olympics spending | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Funding cuts and inadequate maintenance have been blamed for a devastating fire that tore through Brazil’s oldest and most important historical and scientific museum and is feared to have destroyed much of its archive of 20 million items. | Funding cuts and inadequate maintenance have been blamed for a devastating fire that tore through Brazil’s oldest and most important historical and scientific museum and is feared to have destroyed much of its archive of 20 million items. |
| The blaze at Rio de Janeiro’s 200-year-old National Museum began at about 7.30pm local time and raged into the night. There were no reports of injuries, but senior staff have described the loss to Brazilian science, history and culture as incalculable. | The blaze at Rio de Janeiro’s 200-year-old National Museum began at about 7.30pm local time and raged into the night. There were no reports of injuries, but senior staff have described the loss to Brazilian science, history and culture as incalculable. |
| By Monday morning, the flames had been extinguished, leaving museum directors to survey the smouldering ruins of Brazil’s heritage. Although they were initially wary of calculating the losses, the gutted building suggests that the toll will be immense. | |
| The museum’s impressive assets included Egyptian and Graeco-Roman artefacts, fossils, dinosaurs and “Luzia”, at 12,000 years old, the most ancient in the Americas. | |
| But perhaps the greatest blow is the likely destruction of indigenous artefacts, which showed how millions lived in pre-colonial times. | But perhaps the greatest blow is the likely destruction of indigenous artefacts, which showed how millions lived in pre-colonial times. |
| “This is the greatest loss of indigenous writing in Latin America,” said Urutau Guajajara, who studied his community’s history at the museum. “Our memory has been erased.” | “This is the greatest loss of indigenous writing in Latin America,” said Urutau Guajajara, who studied his community’s history at the museum. “Our memory has been erased.” |
| Mércio Gomes, an anthropologist and former president of Brazil’s indigenous agency, Fundação Nacional do Índio (Funai), compared the loss to the burning of the Library of Alexandria in 48BC. “We Brazilians have only 500 years of history. Our National Museum was 200 years old. Our memory is small, but that’s what we had, and it is lost for ever,” he wrote on Facebook. “We have to reconstruct our National Museum.” | |
| While the cause of the blaze is still under investigation, government cuts and inadequate fire protection systems have been cited as key factors. Rio’s fire chief, Roberto Robaday, told the Guardian the two hydrants nearest the museum were dry, delaying efforts to douse the flames. | |
| In recent years, the government has spent billions on the Olympics and major construction projects that generated kickbacks for politicians, but it has slashed spending on culture and education in the name of austerity. | In recent years, the government has spent billions on the Olympics and major construction projects that generated kickbacks for politicians, but it has slashed spending on culture and education in the name of austerity. |
| Luiz Duarte, one of the museum’s vice-directors, said governments were to blame for failing to support the museum and letting it deteriorate. At its 200th birthday in June, not one state minister appeared. “For many years we fought with different governments to get adequate resources to preserve what is now completely destroyed,” he said. “My feeling is of total dismay and immense anger.” | |
| Duarte also said the museum had just closed a deal with the Brazilian government’s development bank, BNDES, for funds that included a fire prevention project. “This is the most terrible irony,” he said. | Duarte also said the museum had just closed a deal with the Brazilian government’s development bank, BNDES, for funds that included a fire prevention project. “This is the most terrible irony,” he said. |
| Brazil’s president, Michel Temer, who has presided over cuts to science and education as part of the wider austerity drive, called the losses “incalculable”. “Today is a sad day for all Brazilians,” he tweeted. “Two hundred years of work, research and knowledge were lost.” | Brazil’s president, Michel Temer, who has presided over cuts to science and education as part of the wider austerity drive, called the losses “incalculable”. “Today is a sad day for all Brazilians,” he tweeted. “Two hundred years of work, research and knowledge were lost.” |
| The country’s culture minister, Sérgio Sá Leitão, acknowledged that the fire was a “tragedy [that] could have been avoided”, but said the problems of the National Museum, which is part of Rio’s Federal University (UFRJ), had been “piling up over time”. | The country’s culture minister, Sérgio Sá Leitão, acknowledged that the fire was a “tragedy [that] could have been avoided”, but said the problems of the National Museum, which is part of Rio’s Federal University (UFRJ), had been “piling up over time”. |
| He tweeted: “They didn’t start this year. In 2015, for example, it was closed for lack of resources for its maintenance. Revitalisation was due to begin now, with BNDES sponsorship. The project included fire protection.” | He tweeted: “They didn’t start this year. In 2015, for example, it was closed for lack of resources for its maintenance. Revitalisation was due to begin now, with BNDES sponsorship. The project included fire protection.” |
| Marina Silva, a former environment minister and candidate in October’s presidential elections, said the fire was like “a lobotomy of the Brazilian memory”. “Unfortunately, given the financial shortages of the UFRJ and the other public universities in the last three years, this was a tragedy foretold,” she tweeted. | |
| On Sunday night – as the blaze crackled through the former palace, sending smoke and embers billowing into the sky – curators and firefighters had managed to salvage a few boxes, some jars of biological specimens and a microscope. Some items had also been stored in a separate building. | On Sunday night – as the blaze crackled through the former palace, sending smoke and embers billowing into the sky – curators and firefighters had managed to salvage a few boxes, some jars of biological specimens and a microscope. Some items had also been stored in a separate building. |
| When firefighters searched the charred remains of the immense collection the following morning, the only item that appeared to have survived the flames was a chunk of meteorite from what had been Brazil’s biggest collection of items that fell from outer space. | When firefighters searched the charred remains of the immense collection the following morning, the only item that appeared to have survived the flames was a chunk of meteorite from what had been Brazil’s biggest collection of items that fell from outer space. |
| Some held out hope that the collection might have been digitised, but this possibility gave little solace to those whose identities were shaped and bolstered by the tangible presence of sacred or historically significant items. | |
| Several indigenous people gathered at the scene and criticised the fact that the museum containing their most precious artefacts had burned down seemingly because there was no money for maintenance of hydrants, yet the city had recently managed to find a huge budget to build a brand new “museum of tomorrow”. | Several indigenous people gathered at the scene and criticised the fact that the museum containing their most precious artefacts had burned down seemingly because there was no money for maintenance of hydrants, yet the city had recently managed to find a huge budget to build a brand new “museum of tomorrow”. |
| A crowd of several dozen people congregated outside the gates, several of whom were clearly distraught. Others blamed the government’s austerity policies and corruption. | A crowd of several dozen people congregated outside the gates, several of whom were clearly distraught. Others blamed the government’s austerity policies and corruption. |
| Some Brazilians saw the fire as a metaphor for their country’s traumas as it battles rising levels of violent crime and the effects of a recession that has left more than 12 million people unemployed. | |
| “The tragedy this Sunday is a sort of national suicide. A crime against our past and future generations,” Bernardo Mello Franco, one of Brazil’s best-known columnists, wrote on the O Globo newspaper site. | “The tragedy this Sunday is a sort of national suicide. A crime against our past and future generations,” Bernardo Mello Franco, one of Brazil’s best-known columnists, wrote on the O Globo newspaper site. |
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