Demonstrations denouncing the negligence of the authorities took place on Monday in the streets of Rio de Janeiro, following the fire that ravaged in the night of Sunday to Monday the Brazilian National Museum, whose collection of more than 20 million of objects and documents has been largely destroyed.
After the flames, indignation. The day after the burning of a jewel of the Brazilian heritage, the National Museum of Rio de Janeiro, went up in smoke, a day of anger culminated on Monday with a monster demonstration denouncing the negligence of the authorities.
In the center of Rio, Cinelandia Square was crowded late afternoon, with many thousands of people, many of them art students, expressing outrage at what the museum's leaders themselves viewed as an "announced tragedy" .
By the end of the morning, nearly 500 students and researchers linked to the museum, mostly dressed in black, had gathered in front of the still smoking rubble, forming a human chain to "embrace" the old imperial palace of the nineteenth century.
Previously, protesters had thrown stones at the police and forced entry to the walls of the Museum, said an AFP photographer. Some chanted "Dehors Temer! To the Brazilian President.
"It's not enough to cry. [...] The people must be indignant. Part of this tragedy could have been avoided, " said Alexandre Keller, director of the museum. "The government needs to help the museum rebuild its history," he added, pointing to budget cuts for museum conservation.
Creation of a private fund
President Michel Temer announced in a statement the creation of a fund financed by a group of public and private companies to allow "the reconstruction of the museum as soon as possible" .
Minister of Education Rossieli Soares also told reporters that 10 million reais (about 2.07 million euros) would be released "immediately" and that international assistance would be sought.
UNESCO deplored "the greatest tragedy of recent times for Brazilian culture" and denounced "the fragility of mechanisms for the preservation of cultural property" in the country.
"Only 10% preserved"
Considered the largest museum of natural history in Latin America, the National Museum, which celebrated its 200th anniversary in June, housed some 20 million priceless pieces and a library of over 530,000 titles.
Among the invaluable carbonized pieces, an Egyptian collection, another of Greco-Roman art and artifacts, collections of paleontology including the skeleton of a dinosaur found from the region of Minas Gerais, as well as the oldest human fossil discovered in Brazil, "Luzia" .
One of the only remains preserved is the enormous meteorite of more than five tons which still sits in front of the entrance, desperately alone in the midst of ashes and calcined walls.
"The only things that could have been saved are some ceramics, meterorite and some stones," said the museum's deputy director, for whom only "10%" of the collections have been preserved.
"Indescribable disaster"
"I came to say goodbye," said a student who participated in the demonstration soberly, before hugging a colleague, as moved to tears.
"It's all Brazil that goes up in smoke, it's an indescribable disaster for those who defend history and culture," said Valeria Rivera, restoration technician, who worked at the museum since 2012. .
Driven by an abysmal public debt and repeated corruption scandals, Brazil, timidly emerging from a historic recession, has in recent months made numerous budget cuts in the areas of research, culture and science.
Culture Minister Sergio Sa Leitao acknowledged that "the tragedy could have been avoided" and that "the problems had accumulated over time" for the establishment.
The National Museum's Ince also sparked emotion outside of Brazil. "The Rio museum fire is a tragedy. It's a story and a major memory that goes to ashes. France will put its experts at the service of the Brazilian people to help the reconstruction, " reacted on Twitter French President Emmanuel Macron.
The Rio museum fire is a tragedy. It's a story and a major memory that goes to ashes. France will put its experts at the service of the Brazilian people to help the reconstruction.
- Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) September 3rd, 2018In 1978, a dramatic fire had already devastated the Museum of Modern Art in Rio, notably charring several paintings by Miro and Picasso.