Museum exhibits, in Rio, archaeological finds from Cais do Valongo

About 180 archaeological finds discovered in the Porto Maravilha works are featured in the Achados do Valongo exhibition, open today (30th) at the Museum of Afro-Brazilian History and Culture (Muhcab), in Gamboa, in the central region of Rio de Janeiro. It is the first time that ceramics, piassava rings, stones and glass pieces from Cais do Valongo that tell a little of the African heritage are presented. Museum of Afro-Brazilian History and Culture (Muhcab), in Rio de Janeiro. – Tomaz Silva/Agência Brasil The archaeological findings, which were in the old Cais do Valongo, where the largest slave market in Brazil operated, are part of the collection of the Open Laboratory of Urban Archeology (Laau), of the city hall. The show is free and will be on display for at least one year at Muhcab, which operates at the José Bonifácio Cultural Center. Created on the occasion of the work on Porto Maravilha, Laau has around 1.2 million pieces located during interventions in the Port Area. Excavations A lot with 262 thousand items is related to the excavations of Cais do Valongo. The others are from the sites Sacadura Cabral, Morro da Conceição and Trapiche da Ordem, among other points. Lot with 262 thousand items is related to the excavations of Cais do Valongo. – Tomaz Silva/Agência Brasil The exhibition, which marks one year after the inauguration of Muhcab, is an initiative of the Municipal Secretariat of Culture and the Rio Patrimônio da Humanidade Institute, in partnership with researchers from the State University of Rio de Janeiro (Uerj) and the National Museum. For the municipal secretary of Culture, Marcus Faustini, visiting the exhibition is dealing with Afro-Brazilian memory. “Building a future without racism and with more diversity is a commitment of the cariocas, so it is important to take something that was off and bring it so that the population has access and that is what Muhcab has been doing throughout its first year of life” , said. The show is curated by researchers from Uerj and the National Museum, organized by Muhcab, sponsored by Instituto Moreira Salles and Instituto D’Orbigny and supervised by the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage (Iphan). It adds to the permanent exhibition of the museum, “Protagonismos – Memory, pride and identity”. Cais do Valongo Discovered in 2011, in the initial phase of the Porto Maravilha project, to revitalize the region, the pier was adjacent to the market. It is estimated that 700,000 enslaved Africans passed through there between 1790 and 1831, coming from ports in the current territory of Angola, but also from Mozambique. The 2011 archaeological excavation opened up a piece of land measuring four thousand square meters. Hundreds of artifacts from African matrices came out of there, such as necklace beads, cowrie shells, copper earrings and bracelets, crystals, ceramic pieces, piassava rings, figs, clay pipes, copper material, amber, corals and miniatures of use in ritual.

Agência Brasil