National Museum will receive BRL 13.5 million from MEC for annual maintenance

The National Museum (MN), linked to the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), will receive R$ 13.5 million annually from the Ministry of Education (MEC) for equipment maintenance services. A commitment in this sense was given by the MEC to the director of the MN, paleontologist Alexander Kellner. This is the oldest scientific institution in Brazil, founded on June 6, 1818. To Agência Brasil, Kellner clarified that it was not the air conditioning that caused the fire in the museum on September 2, 2018. “People are mistaken that it was the air conditioning that caused this tragedy. No. It was the constant lack of resources for the operation and maintenance of the National Museum”. Kellner was pleased to see the request for a specific budget forecast for the operation and maintenance of the museum, “not to pay bills”, being met with a positive signal from the MEC that it intends to meet this expense. “This will allow me to hire firefighters, security, building maintenance and things like that. I’m going to resolve once and for all the issue of maintaining the museum, making it clear that nobody here talks about expanding the museum. It’s about keeping what we have.” This includes treatment against pests and rodents, tree pruning, among other services. According to Alexander Kellner, the important point is that the resources will not be destined only for the maintenance of the Palace of São Cristóvão, headquarters of the MN, located in Quinta da Boa Vista, in the district of São Cristóvão, in the north zone of Rio de Janeiro. The three areas of the museum will benefit: the Palace, the new research and teaching campus, with 43,400 square meters, and the botanical garden, which the director hopes to open to the public “some day”. MEC’s ​​commitment to maintaining the National Museum demonstrates, according to Kellner, that Brazil has learned. “MEC will take care of the National Museum and that gives us strength and puts us in a different position when we ask for help. Because this demonstrates to people who want to invest both in donating collections and in financial matters for the completion of works, which are important for Brazilian society, that they are not going to simply invest in a place that is going to be built and then, when they turn their backs, everything ends up degraded due to lack of maintenance. This is the point”. Visit The director of the MN pointed out that during his first visit to Rio de Janeiro, the Minister of Education, Camilo Santana, insisted on visiting the museum. “That was very good. The minister was enchanted by the (restoration) project, he saw the professional way in which this project was being handled, the correct way in which it is working, and he asked us to prepare a rescheduling of the works to deliver as much of the National Museum as possible to the public in 2026.” This possible part covers four blocks of equipment: the historic block and blocks two and three, which will open for visitation in April 2026, totaling 2,900 square meters, excluding the external gardens. Block four will be for later. Kellner informed that after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s visit to the equipment, the reorganization of the project was presented to the minister, aiming at reopening in April 2026. He commented, however, that to reopen in 2026, he will need resources, as he told the minister. “The MEC needs to act politically so that we can get this amount. One thing is maintenance and another is the reopening of the museum in 2026. For maintenance, we have this promise of BRL 13.5 million/year, but for the reopening, resources of around BRL 180 million are needed”. President Lula and the Minister of Education, Camilo Santana, on a guided tour of the reconstruction works of the National Museum, in March 2023 – Ricardo Stuckert/PR Resources promised by the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro (Alerj) in the amount of R$ 20 million are also expected, from the Special Fund of the Fluminense Parliament, in accordance with Law 8.971/20, sanctioned by then Governor Wilson Witzel and published in an extra edition of the Official State Gazette on 10 August 2020. “We are anxious for these R$ 20 million from Alerj to come to the museum”. Alexander Kellner said, however, that he has been trying to contact Alerj for several months, but has not yet been successful.

Agência Brasil