a major fire d Evora from the Sunday night National Museum of Brazil, considered one of the largest of its kind in Latin America.
According to preliminary reports, no reported victims, although the causes behind the fire that consumed the building of more than 200 years, located in the North of Rio de Janeiro are unknown.
Images broadcast by local television stations show that the fire affects almost the entire building, which is home to more than 20 million pieces of different periods of the history of Brazil and the world.
5 objects and “invaluable” collections that were in the National Museum of Brazil, devoured by the flames the fire began at 19:30 local time (22:30 GMT), when the Museum was closed and only had four guards inside, according to the reports.
Firefighters attempt to since then control the flames, which have been extended to almost all public.
Speaking to local media, the head of Rio, Roberto Robadey, firefighters reported that the lack of fire hydrants in the area and characteristics of the Museum, with wooden floors and parts stored in alcohol, had made it difficult to quell the flames.
ILmpresionantes images of the fire that consumed the National Museum of Brazil in Rio the Deputy Director of the Museum, Cristina Cerejo, told local media that, although it was too early to assess the extent of the damage, he believed that most of the collection was destroyed, although he hoped that they had saved some pieces that were kept in annex.
Among the most valuable pieces in the Museum were: dozens of dinosaur bones, some unique of its kind a skeleton of a woman (Luzia) of 12,000 years old, the oldest found in the continent Bendegó meteorite, the largest found in Brazil its collection of Egyptian archaeology was the largest of Latin America in its facilities was the largest scientific library of Rio de Janeiro.
Its collection of archaeology was composed of more than 100,000 objects from different civilizations of the Americas, Europe and Africa, from the Palaeolithic period to the 19th century 750 pieces of Greek civilizations, were part of the collection of classical archaeology Roman, Etruscan and Italian, considered the largest in its kind in Latin America a set of approximately 1,800 artifacts produced by the Amerindian civilizations during the pre-Columbian era the newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo reported that much of the building already is it collapsed.
“The loss of the collection of the National Museum is incalculable for Brazil. It lost their 200 years of work, research and knowledge,”said President Michel fear who added that it was”a sad day for all Brazilians”on his Twitter.
“Years of neglect” in accordance with Brazilian media, from 2014 the institution was not receiving more than US$ 128,000 dollars annually allocated by the Government for the conservation and restoration of the Museum, which led to some walls of the building were cracked and brazen and many electrical connections were exposed.
In declarations to the local press, the Deputy Director of the institution, Luis Fernando Duarte, criticized the “lack of support” and the lack of awareness of the authorities led to the “tragic situation”.
“We we were for years, in various Governments, to achieve resource to properly preserve everything that was destroyed today”, he added.
Copyright of the captionEl Museum imagenREUTERSImage one of the oldest in Brasil.segun was reports, employees had previously expressed concern about funding cuts and the dilapidated state of the building.
The Minister of culture of Brazil, Sérgio Sá Leitão, considered that the fire was the result of “years of neglect” and that it was a “day of mourning” for his country.
“That this serve as a warning so that such tragedies will not be repeated in other museums and other institutions”, he told local television.
The Museum of the National Museum, the oldest in the Brazil, is administered by the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and was founded by Juan VI, King of Portugal, on 6 June 1818.
Copyright of the imagenREUTERSImage captionMuchos social network users commented on the contrast of the images that were gargoyles between the flames of the Museum. From 1802, the building served as residence to the Royal family, Portuguese and, after independence, to the Brazilian imperial family.
Due to its great heritage, which includes collections of geology, Botany, palaeontology and archaeology, it is considered one of the most important in Latin America.
So wide was his collection which, according to the catalog, only 1% of the objects in its collection were exhibited.
