This personal reflection is part of a series called The Big Ideas, in which writers respond to a single question: What is history? You can read more by visiting The Big Ideas series page.
Steel beams hanging in the air,
twisted by the intense heat.
Shattered glass scattered across the floor,
melted by the flames.
Iron intertwined in all directions,
exposed by collapses.
Walls blackened by soot,
resulting from the burning of a country’s memory …
I wrote these lines shortly after Sept. 2, 2018. It is a day I will never forget.
That day, the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro was devastated by an intense fire. For those of us who work in Brazil’s cultural sector, the fire was the realization of our worst nightmare. The tragedy did not come without warning. The risks the museum faced were well-known. The lack of proper maintenance was obvious throughout the building. Along with my fellow museum officials, I frequently pushed government officials for more resources, but these efforts were not successful.
If I had to choose one building in Brazil that should be protected and preserved, it would be the museum, and not just because of its collections. The site is connected to many notable moments in Brazil’s history. Since 1892, the museum has been housed in the former royal palace. The building was home to the Portuguese royal family after they fled to Rio de Janeiro to escape Napoleon. After Brazil’s independence, it was the residence of Brazil’s emperor.
The museum, which was founded on June 6, 1818, by King John VI of Portugal, is Brazil’s first scientific institution. Before the fire, the museum contained over 20 million items, including unpublished documents from Empress Maria Leopoldina, ethnographic objects from Indigenous Brazilians, significant specimens of the country’s biodiversity, fossils and rare minerals. The blaze destroyed about 85 percent of the museum’s collection.
In the aftermath, one of the hardest moments for me was paradoxically also one of the most inspiring. The day after the fire, while smoke was still everywhere, a large group of people, including some high school students, approached the remains of the museum. For security reasons, the police did not let them get close to the building. After some tense negotiations, the group was allowed to do what they came for: The members formed a human chain and embraced the remains of an institution that — in reality — belongs to them, the public. When I remember this scene, it is hard to hold back my tears. We, the guardians of their cultural heritage and history, failed them.
How could this have happened? How could the government have left an essential national treasure so vulnerable? I don’t know how the people who could have prevented this sleep at night. I still have nightmares.
I was appointed museum director in February 2018, less than seven months before the fire. Two weeks after my appointment, I gave an interview to O Globo, one of the largest newspapers in Brazil. During the interview, I clearly explained the dangers imposed by the institution’s severe budgetary constraints. In my first month in office, I arranged for representatives from Rio’s Civil Defense, a disaster preparedness agency, to give daylong fire safety classes to groups of museum employees. Almost 100 people from the institution had the opportunity to learn about fire prevention and how to handle a fire extinguisher.
My administration also pushed forward the approval of a significant project funded by the National Bank for Economic and Social Development. The project promised 21.7 million Brazilian reals (about $3.9 million) for the palace’s renovation, including fire safety measures. The agreement was signed on June 5, the eve of the museum’s 200th anniversary celebration. Unfortunately, these efforts were all in vain. The funds did not arrive in time. The fire at the museum started on a Sunday night when only a few guards were on duty.
Nevertheless, some good has come out of this tragedy. It has led to a greater understanding of the need to protect cultural heritage as part of the country’s history. There are initiatives to include Sept. 2 in Brazil’s official calendar as a day dedicated to preserving historical, scientific and cultural collections. Several institutions in Brazil have recently obtained funding to improve their security and fire safety systems. Because of the severe structural destruction caused by the fire, the museum can be entirely rebuilt with the latest security systems, if we get enough funding.
Besides financial resources, the museum’s biggest challenge is obtaining new original items. Although many institutions have far more specimens in storage than they will ever display, there have been fewer donations than we expected. It is a simple fact that no natural history museum can survive without original specimens.
But some institutions have stepped up. Perhaps the most important donation we have received is a 350-year-old feather cloak from the National Museum of Denmark. The cloak, a cultural artifact that was made by Brazil’s Tupinambá people, had been on display in Copenhagen since 1689. The German government also contributed 1 million euros ($1.1 million), which enabled us to recover objects from the ruins of the palace. We are very grateful for this support. I hope that more international foundations, museums and private donors will get involved in reconstructing the largest natural history and anthropology museum in Latin America.
The experience of running the museum in such difficult conditions has left me with many scars. The fire occurred early into my tenure. The government that was elected just a few weeks later, in October 2018, was less than supportive. Then, the Covid-19 pandemic brought new challenges. Fortunately, the government elected in 2022 has shown more interest in cultural issues and put the museum’s reconstruction on the agenda.
We are working to return the museum to society as soon as possible. Our goal is to become an innovative, sustainable and accessible museum of natural and cultural history — one that invites visitors to reflect on the world around us and opens up possibilities for new dreams.
Alexander Kellner is a paleontologist and the director of the National Museum of Brazil.
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