Last year, I was lucky enough to visit the National Museum of Brazil in Rio. As big museums go, it was terrific, with a gigantic meteorite near the front entrance, amazing galleries drawing on the incredibly rich biodiversity and cultural diversity of Brazil, as well as galleries of global nature and culture.
I particularly remember amazing indigenous costumes shaped like hummingbirds: I'd never seen anything like them.
All that, or nearly all of that, is gone. Humanity is diminished as a result - all those questions drawing on collections that will never be asked, or answered, or will be left unanswered. Around the same time, I saw the Littlewoods building in Liverpool burn, another victim of neglect differing only in scale, not type.
In response to the disaster, the International Council of Museums (Icom) has produced a particularly direct statement that "the reduction in public funding threatens the very existence of museums" - a call to "face some hard facts about our sector".
Safeguarding cultural and natural heritage is a target in the Sustainable Development Goals, the programme to transform our world by 2030, and which the countries of the United Nations system have all signed up to (including both Brazil and the UK).
They are responsibilities, not merely commodities, and museums should recognise their responsibilities to maintain these (or at the very least the best of these), and value a principle of "care", as well as the sexier and newsworthy "innovation".
Caring is important. Advocates who understand and can communicate the multiple cultural and scientific values of long-term collections - and who do not fall victim to the over-marketisation of culture and heritage, or simply accept funding cuts uncritically, or the curse of short-term thinking - are needed to remind decision-makers that the economy exists within culture and society (which themselves exist within the natural environment), not the other way around.
Icom has been very proactive in its support of the National Museum of Brazil. We should remember this is not the first time a great museum has burned down: the National Museum of Natural History in New Delhi burnt in 2016, for example. If the sector can speak more effectively on the basic needs that will ensure collections are protected and cared for, then we can at least try to prevent further disasters and losses.
I particularly remember amazing indigenous costumes shaped like hummingbirds: I'd never seen anything like them.
All that, or nearly all of that, is gone. Humanity is diminished as a result - all those questions drawing on collections that will never be asked, or answered, or will be left unanswered. Around the same time, I saw the Littlewoods building in Liverpool burn, another victim of neglect differing only in scale, not type.
In response to the disaster, the International Council of Museums (Icom) has produced a particularly direct statement that "the reduction in public funding threatens the very existence of museums" - a call to "face some hard facts about our sector".
It calls on governments, policy-makers and other decision-makers "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".
People shouldn't be too quick to single out the Brazilian government's financial decisions, as funding has been declining in many countries, including the UK.
Safeguarding cultural and natural heritage is a target in the Sustainable Development Goals, the programme to transform our world by 2030, and which the countries of the United Nations system have all signed up to (including both Brazil and the UK).
Target 11.4 is to "strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world's cultural and natural heritage", with an indicator based on total expenditure (public and private) per capita spent on the preservation, protection and conservation of all cultural and natural heritage.
The UK is to report on its domestic progress to achieve the goals next year, but a recent assessment was critical of the government's progress in many areas, including target 11.4 ("not enough progress"), noting "there are concerns about the impacts of almost a decade of public spending constraint, especially for local government, on the UK's museums, libraries and support for the arts".
Collections 2030, the Museums Association's investigation into collections, has two main themes: the purpose of collections, and what infrastructure is required to make collections effective. I hope that those involved in Collections 2030 will join the dots here, and take Icom's excellent statement very seriously in their considerations.
Collections, and museums, desperately need advocates who can articulate their multiple values. Cultural and natural heritage, whether in museums or elsewhere, transcend purely economic considerations.
They are responsibilities, not merely commodities, and museums should recognise their responsibilities to maintain these (or at the very least the best of these), and value a principle of "care", as well as the sexier and newsworthy "innovation".
Caring is important. Advocates who understand and can communicate the multiple cultural and scientific values of long-term collections - and who do not fall victim to the over-marketisation of culture and heritage, or simply accept funding cuts uncritically, or the curse of short-term thinking - are needed to remind decision-makers that the economy exists within culture and society (which themselves exist within the natural environment), not the other way around.
Icom has been very proactive in its support of the National Museum of Brazil. We should remember this is not the first time a great museum has burned down: the National Museum of Natural History in New Delhi burnt in 2016, for example. If the sector can speak more effectively on the basic needs that will ensure collections are protected and cared for, then we can at least try to prevent further disasters and losses.
Henry McGhie is the head of collections and curator of zoology at Manchester Museum. He is a member of a new international Working Group on Sustainability, which aims to help mainstream action towards the Sustainable Development Goals and Paris Agreement across Icom's activities. Groups related to Icom will provide advice and support to Brazil's National Museum.
Views expressed are personal and are not the views of Icom or of the Working Group on Sustainability
