Brasil's National Museum Fire Destroys Countless Artifacts

[Shiranu]

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/09/brazil-rio-de-janeiro-museum-fire/569299/

This museum contained Latin America's oldest human remains, frescos from Pompeii and painted sarcophagi from Egypt... audio recordings of indigenous Brasilian cultures that have gone extinct and over 1,800 pre-Colonial Latin American artifacts including a 3,500+ year old Chilean mummy. There were an estimated 5 million butterflies and arthropod remains that were likely lost, and dinosaur remains which included a Santanaraptor that still had soft tissue and muscle fibers intact on it's legs. So many of the original finds of dinosaurs, and so many in pristine condition, were housed where the fire was.

This was a museum that absolutely dwarfed the British Museum, with twice as many specimen's located within it... and yet the facility was having to crowd-source funding just to have a sprinkler system installed. But not only was it one of the largest museums in the world, it was also the home of Brasil's monarchy; rulers like Pedro II and Joao VI lived in this palace and from it tried to bring science, education, and economic success to their people. This was the symbol of Brasil's Golden Age as it emerged from it's Colonial past and  gained it's independence.


This is one of the biggest losses, both culturally and scientifically, in modern history... not just for Brasil, or even Latin America, but for the entire world. And while there is a bit of hyperbole, it is not all that inaccurate either in the description of one of Brasilian's interviewed (I cant remember now if he was a politician or a scientist)... this is the largest loss of knowledge in human history since the destruction of the Library at Alexandria two thousand years ago.


All the turmoil in the world, all the corruption and greed... this is all it leads to. Brasil has the resources to protect it's cultural identity, to protect these artifacts of the world... but the pursuit of wealth breeds corrupt men and women who would rather cut public services and hog all the wealth at the top so they can live in leisure and opulence... humanity be damned. Who cares if countless scientific samples are lost, who cares if the remains of cultures long gone are destroyed... they need a 10th yacht, and if that artifact isn't a decoration in their house than it's really kinda useless anyways, isn't it?

Brasil is not special; throw a dart anywhere on a map and you will hit a country that faces the same issues to varying degrees. If we do not get away from this idea that money is the ultimate god, that we shouldn't spend our money and resources on protecting one another rather than ourselves... then we will learn nothing from this tragedy and only continue down the path to our own.


The rich better enjoy their days while they last if they don't intend to learn from their mistakes, because sooner or later the the 99% will either collapse from the weight pressed against their necks or will decide enough is enough... and neither one will have a happy ending for anyone.

[Munch]

That's bloody tragic :(
The lose of history and archives like this, can only hope they recorded as much of it as they could and it's held online somewhere, though simply looking at it online will never be the same as seeing such historical objects and archives and being able to study them.

[Baruch]

Or is this a good reason not to keep museums in third world countries?  Just asking.  An idiot 200 year ago, dropped the Portland Vase ... at the British Museum.

[Hydra009]

Weren't there backups for this stuff?  Seems like a hell of an oversight.

*edit - I know they can't exactly duplicate a lot of this stuff - I'm talking about photos of paintings, molds of dinosaur bones, etc.

[Shiranu]

Weren't there backups for this stuff?  Seems like a hell of an oversight.

*edit - I know they can't exactly duplicate a lot of this stuff - I'm talking about photos of paintings, molds of dinosaur bones, etc.

IIRC (Getting ready for work, so can't look to deeply right now) the budget for the museum had been cut to around $150,000 dollars... which for a place like that is borderline literally nothing.

[Hydra009]

IIRC (Getting ready for work, so can't look to deeply right now) the budget for the museum had been cut to around $150,000 dollars... which for a place like that is borderline literally nothing.

That's terrible.  :(

I'm glad our museums are fully funded.

[SGOS]

In my youth, going to the Science and Industry Museum or the Museum of Natural History in Chicago was usually free.  There were rare times when an admission was charged.  I guess it was on certain days, but the charge was so small that I never bothered to learn what days were free.  The last time I went to the Natural History Museum was two or three years ago, and it cost me around $100.  Granted this was for a yearly pass, but being in Chicago only once a year, I considered it for the day.  There were no cheaper options offered at that time.  I don't know if there ever are.

Times have changed.  I don't know why once great cultural institutions could be free and now cost as much as they do.  I'm guessing it's government funding, because government funding is what people usually gripe about like it's a communist plot.  Yes, things are more expensive these days, but our government still takes in a mint in taxes, more than it ever did when I was a kid when we were funding the construction of the Interstate Highway System, zoos, and museums, but now I'm hearing we can't even afford to maintain these things.  Although, this sounds like a lie.  I suspect we could, but that would divert tax breaks from the wealthy.  "We can't afford it" is a synonym for "I'm a cheap Scrooge."  Of course there are still wealthy people who aren't.  And I noticed in Hydra's link, that the greatest percentage of support comes from private donations, which don't include admissions charges, taxes, or stops at the gift shop.

Maybe we can get through this in spite of the curmudgeonness of general society.

[Hydra009]

but now I'm hearing we can't even afford to maintain these things.  Although, this sounds like a lie.  I suspect we could, but that would divert tax breaks from the wealthy.  "We can't afford it" is a synonym for "I'm a cheap Scrooge."

Bingo.  You never see that reaction with bombing runs in the Middle East or the latest round of corporate welfare.  It's not about money, it's about priorities.  Or rather it's about stuffing the money in the right pockets.

[PopeyesPappy]

IIRC (Getting ready for work, so can't look to deeply right now) the budget for the museum had been cut to around $150,000 dollars... which for a place like that is borderline literally nothing.

For a budget like that, I could almost give you one young but good museum technician plus a laborer to help out to do inventory for a year. Almost...

[PopeyesPappy]

Bingo.  You never see that reaction with bombing runs in the Middle East or the latest round of corporate welfare.  It's not about money, it's about priorities.  Or rather it's about stuffing the money in the right pockets.

The National Park Service is actually spending money on things to help/avoid this type of situation right now. I've got three new small contracts starting later this month to write emergency operations plans for 6 different parks. There is some other stuff going on too. Inventory, some conservation work, and a lot of digitization of paper documents and audio recordings. The later is just in case a disaster like happened in Brazil happens at one of our parks. Even a small park probably has tens of thousands of historical documents. A big one can have millions.

[Cavebear]

The loss is nationally and international tragic.  I read that the oldest Americas fossil was destroyed...