On a trip to Rio de Janeiro (RJ), President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva visited the reconstruction works of the National Museum this Thursday, 23 March 2023. In September 2018, the Museum suffered a fire that destroyed parts of the structure of the Paço de São Cristóvão, resulting in the loss of thousands of items from collections and historical artefacts. Lula's visit to the National Museum was the first by a president since 1968 when Marshal Artur da Costa e Silva was there.
From the first moments after the fire, UNESCO made its technical knowledge available in museums and the safeguarding of cultural Heritage to help face the first operational challenges and start recovery planning. In 2020, UNESCO, the Vale Foundation and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) signed a technical cooperation term that implemented the governance structure of the "Museu Nacional Vive" project, which aims to promote the restoration of the Museum, in addition to renovating the Central Library and implement a new academic campus on the site.
Still, in the initial emergency context, at the initiative of the Brazilian Ministry of Education (MEC) and with a donation of $5 million reais, a technical cooperation project was agreed upon between the Ministry and UNESCO to define conceptual and technical bases. During this phase, there were the definitions for reconstructing and restoring the Paço de São Cristóvão, the headquarters of the National Museum. Furthermore, another cooperation project between UNESCO and VALE has already implemented a $20 million reais in management actions to develop technical architectural, museological, museographic projects and reconstruction and intervention actions.
Also, earlier in Rio de Janeiro, a ceremony was held to swear in the Management Committee that will manage the Cais do Valongo archaeological site, which was recognized as a World Heritage Site in 2017. The Management Committee is one of UNESCO's requirements for maintaining the title of Heritage. The coordinator of Culture for UNESCO in Brazil, Isabel de Paula; the president of IPHAN, Leandro Grass; the Minister of Culture, Margareth Menezes; the Minister of Racial Equality, Anielle Franco; and the president of BNDES, Aloizio Mercadante, took part in the act.
