This is what happens when a museum suffers neglect

Although researchers have not yet gained permission to enter the unstable building, firefighters said they had seen bones and fragments of other artefacts in the rubble, indicating that at least some exhibits may be recoverable. A statement from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, which runs the museum, said: "The intact collections still place the Museu Nacional among the most important museums in Latin America."

Television reports have testified to the bravery of the museum's staff, who rushed to the scene and managed to save many objects, choosing items that were irreplaceable or had the greatest scientific value. Paulo Buckup, a zoologist at the museum, told BBC Brasil that he had managed to rescue 80% of the museum's mollusc holotypes.

But the intensity of the blaze leaves no doubt that much was destroyed. Media reports indicate that some of the biggest losses include the museum's entire entomological collection of five million specimens, gathered from one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth, as well as its entire arachnological and much of its mollusc collections, which curators have described as an immeasurable blow to science.

Also missing are fossilised specimens of early humans, including 12,000-year-old Luzia, the earliest human fossil recovered in the Americas, as well as rare dinosaur fossils featuring muscle and sinew, and an extensive collection of Egyptian mummies and artefacts.

Some of the most terrible losses are to the museum's anthropological collections. The fire destroyed the institution's Indigenous Language Centre, which featured audio recordings of indigenous people speaking now-extinct languages, as well as artefacts and human remains from tribes who were killed off by colonial settlers; the destruction of the last remaining trace of these cultures has been likened by some to a "genocide". The museum is also a major centre of academic research, but its laboratories and historical archives have been destroyed.

Rallying round


The museum has posted a list of ways in which to assist on its website (see box), appealing to the public for images to help it digitally preserve the museum. Separately, a campaign by researchers is seeking to digitally recreate the museum's historical archive, and is seeking copies of dissertations, theses and historical studies connected to the museum. Wikipedia has launched a crowdsourcing project to collate images of objects from the museum on the Wikimedia Commons site.

Political neglect

Alongside the recovery efforts, more searching questions are starting to be asked about the cause of the fire. Although horrified by the scale of the disaster, there was little surprise among the museum's staff or the public that it had occurred. Media reports indicate that the museum had suffered from a combination of underfunding and political neglect for years, a situation exacerbated in the past four years by austerity measures such as a cap on public spending.

The museum lacked fire doors and a sprinkler system, and one engineer's report - posted online - warned that fire was "inevitable", showing pictures of hazardous maintenance issues such as exposed wiring. A package of R$5m (£0.9m) had been approved to improve fire safety at the museum, but had not yet been given to the organisation.

The government has pledged funds to rebuild the museum, and will set up the Brazilian Museum Agency to oversee 27 institutions. A judge in Rio de Janeiro recently gave six other museums in the city a 30-day deadline to improve their fire security measures or face temporary closure.

Staff condemnation

But for many, this action is too little too late, and staff from the university and museum have been outspoken in their condemnation of the government. The museum's director, Alexander Kellner, gave an interview to a Brazilian newspaper to mark the museum's bicentenary in May (which no government official attended), in which he said: "Brazil does not recognise the museum's greatness. If it did, the country would not have left it like this."

The disaster has left the Brazilian public angry and betrayed about the inaction, bureaucracy and corruption of their government. There's disbelief that so much funding was channelled to more eye-catching projects such as the 2016 Olympics and the 2014 World Cup over the country's cultural and scientific heritage. The fire also comes at a time of political turbulence in the country, with presidential elections due to take place in October - the frontrunner is Jair Bolsonaro, a fascist sympathiser who many fear could cause a political earthquake if elected.

So could such a catastrophe happen again? A strongly worded statement released by Icom last month warned in no uncertain terms that "reduction in public funding threatens the very existence of museums" (see box). This concern is echoed by museum professionals here. Although there were disparate causes behind each, the UK has suffered a series of fires at cultural venues in recent years, including the two separate blazes at Glasgow School of Art and the fire that gutted Battersea Arts Centre in London in 2015.

Serve as a warning

Describing the National Museum of Brazil disaster as "awful and unimaginable", the Museums Association's director, Sharon Heal, says: "The events in Rio should serve as a warning to other institutions and governments that neglect and lack of investment can jeopardise our collections and the buildings that house them. It would appear that museum staff and others warned about the perilous state of the building in Rio and called for urgent action."

For now, there is a determination among the museum's staff to rebuild; its director and the rector of the university met with a Unesco commission last month to discuss a way forward. A website, www.ufrj.br/museunacionalvive, has been launched to emphasise that the museum remains a living institution, with classes and lectures still running .

The museum will prevail - but no thanks to those in government.

See letters


Send information about pieces or digital copies that you'd like to donate to: falecomdiretor@mn.ufrj.br with the subject line: DOAÇÃO (DONATION).

Upload photos of the collection to: http://museunacional.ufrj.br/memoria

If your institution is interested in providing specific support, email: falecomdiretor@mn.ufrj.br with the subject Line: APOIO (SUPPORT).



Governments must set out policies to support this crucial mission, prioritising museum security, as well as the continuous protection, maintenance and research of collections. Without this support, vital aspects of a museum's operations are neglected, which can lead to disastrous results, as the Brazilian experience illustrates all too painfully.

Icom calls on policy- and decision-makers worldwide, in the wake of the National Museum of Brazil disaster, to recognise the need to care for museums, to allocate adequate funding and to develop policies that will allow these cultural institutions to carry out their vital role in society for generations to come.