Protesters gather after fire at Brazil museum
RIO DE JANEIRO — Smoke rose Monday from the burnedout hulk of Brazil’s National Museum, as recriminations flew over who was responsible for a huge fire that destroyed of at least part of Latin America’s largest collection of historical artifacts and documents.
A few hundred protesters who gathered outside the museum gates tried several times to push into the site, demanding to see the damage and calling on the government to rebuild. Police held the crowd back with pepper spray, tear gas and batons.
The museum’s director said a portion of the collection was destroyed and that it was impossible to say yet how much. But the deputy director suggested that the damage could be catastrophic, with most objects in the main building probably lost, except for some meteorites.
The main building, which was once the home of the Brazilian royal family, housed a collection of 20 million items that included Egyptian and Greco-Roman relics and the oldest human skull found in the Western hemisphere, known as Luzia.
On Monday, the building was still standing, but much of it appeared to have been gutted. Civil defense authorities warned that the structure was not safe to enter because the roof and internal walls had been compromised and could collapse further.
It was not clear how the fire began Sunday evening, when the museum was closed. But the flames quickly fueled criticism of Brazil’s dilapidated infrastructure and budget deficits as the nation prepares for national elections in October.
Several officials have said the building was known to be in serious disrepair and at significant risk of catching fire.
The museum has suffered underfunding for years that prevented renovations and forced it to close exhibits. The Folha de S. Paulo newspaper reported in May, as the museum was preparing to celebrate its bicentennial, that its annual budget had fallen from around $130,000 in 2013 to around $84,000 last year.
In a sign of how strapped the museum was, when a termite infestation last year forced the closure of a room containing a 39-foot dinosaur skeleton, officials turned to crowdfunding to raise the money to reopen the room.
The institution had recently secured approval for a planned renovation, including an upgrade of the fire-prevention system, Kellner said.