National History Museum, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The National Historical Museum of Brazil was created in 1922, and possesses over 287,000 items, including the largest numismatic collection of Latin America. The architectural complex that houses the museum was built in 1603 as the St. James of Mercy Fort; earlier structures date back to 1567, erected by order of King Sebastian I of Portugal. In 1693, the Calaboose Prison, for slaves, was built. In 1762, the Casa do Trem was added as a depot of weapons and ammunition. The last additions are the War Arsenal (1764) and the Barracks (1835).

The formation of the collection of the National Historical Museum began with the transfer of items from other institutions that already existed at the time of its foundation. Several items and pieces came from the National Archives museum and from the National Library’s numismatics office. The Casa da Moeda, the National Museum of Fine Arts, the Ministry of the Army and the Ministry of the Navy also contributed to the initial formation of the collection.

Currently, the National Historical Museum occupies the entire architectural complex of Ponta do Calabouço and became the most important museum of history in the country, bringing together a collection of 258,000 items, including objects, documents and books, and being an institution of production and dissemination of knowledge.

National Historical Museum maintains long-term and temporary exhibition galleries in a 9,000 m² area open to the public, as well as a library specialized in Brazil History, Art History, Museology and Fashion, and the Historical Archive with important manuscript documents, watercolors, illustrations and photographs, including Juan Gutierrez, Augusto Malta and Marc Ferrez.

It also maintains programs to students, teachers, senior citizens and poor communities. Its storage rooms, conservation and restoration laboratories and numismatics (collection of coins and other printed figures) can be consulted by prior appointment. Picturesque inner courtyards and a friendly cafeteria offer pleasant options for relaxing moments.

History
At a point that advanced over the sea, later known as Ponta do Calabouço, between the beaches of Piaçaba and Santa Luzia, in the historic center of Rio de Janeiro, in 1603 the Portuguese built the Fortaleza de Santiago, the origin of the architectural complex that now houses the National Historical Museum.

The architectural ensemble
Over the centuries, other buildings have been added to the Fortaleza, such as the Prison of the Dungeon (1693), intended for the punishment of slaves; the Casa do Trem (1762), to guard the “artillery train” (weapons and ammunition); the War Arsenal (1764) and the Barracks to house military troops (1835).

Due to its strategic location for the defense of Guanabara Bay and the city itself, the region was a military area until 1908, when the War Arsenal was transferred to Ponta do Caju.

In the 1920s, Ponta do Calabouço was grounded and re-urbanized to host the International Exhibition commemorating the Centenary of Independence of Brazil. To integrate the event, the buildings of the former Arsenal de Guerra were enlarged and “embellished”, with decoration characteristic of neocolonial architecture.

The museum
In 1922, they were opened to the public, housing the “Palácio das Grandes Indústrias”, one of the most visited pavilions of the Centenary Exhibition, and two galleries of the National Historical Museum, created that same year by President Epitácio Pessoa to provide Brazil with a museum dedicated to national history.

During 75 years of continuous activities, the Museum assembled the largest collection under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and has become an important center of culture, occupying gradually all the architectural complex of the Calaboose Point, where the Santiago Fort was once situated.

As the first Brazilian museum to run an official museology course, it served as a starting point for the formation of other important local museums, thus becoming internationally known in the 1940s.

Currently, the National Historical Museum occupies the entire architectural complex of Ponta do Calabouço and has become the most important museum of history in the country, gathering a collection with about 258 thousand items, among objects, documents and books, and being an institution of production and dissemination of knowledge.

From the Santiago Fortress and the Prison of the Dungeon, only the foundations remain. However, the Casa do Trem, restored to its colonial aspect in the 1990s, the Arsenal de Guerra building and its imposing Pátio da Minerva and the 1922 Exhibition Pavilion, currently the Library, remain today, forming one of the most significant collections. architectural features of the city, with an area of 20,000m² between the streets of Santa Luzia and Av. Alfredo Agache.

The National Historical Museum maintains, in 9,000m² of area open to the public, galleries of long-term and temporary exhibitions, in addition to the Library specialized in Brazilian History, Art History, Museology and Fashion, from the Historical Archive, with important manuscript documents, watercolors, illustrations and photographs, including copies by Juan Gutierrez, Augusto Malta and Marc Ferrez. It also maintains programs aimed at students, teachers, the elderly and underprivileged communities. The areas of Technical Reserve, Conservation and Numismatic Restoration Laboratory (collection of coins and other printed values) can be consulted, by prior appointment.

Aiming to expand the spaces destined to the public, improve the services offered to visitors, democratize the access of the most diverse segments of society and enable an adequate circulation and route, the architectural ensemble that houses the Museum, between 2003 and 2006, underwent important interventions restoration and modernization.

Features
The museum is characterized as a history museum, with an emphasis on the History of Brazil, ranging from the pre-Cabral period to its contemporary history. Its exhibition spaces open to public visitation are part of an architectural ensemble that is distributed over a total floor area of 14,540 m², which adds up to the 3,212 m² of its internal courtyards (Pátio Epitácio Pessoa, also known as Pátio dos Canhões, Pátio da Minerva, Pátio Santiago and Pátio Gustavo Barroso).

In the floor ground, are the Court of the cannons, which features a collection of cannons from the colonial period and the permanent exhibition “From mobile to the car” with a large number of carriages of the nineteenth century. On this floor there is also the technical reserve of the museum and an area of the Educational Sector located on the ground floor of Casa do Trem. There are also some galleries on the ground floor used for temporary exhibitions.

The second floor features the museum’s long circuit, with the following galleries: “Oreretama” (dedicated to the first peoples who lived in Brazil and the Indians who still populate the country); “Portuguese in the World” (showing the trajectories of Portuguese navigators during the period of great navigation and the colonization process in Brazil ); “State Building” (covering Independence and the imperial period ); and “The Construction of Citizenship” (which covers everything from the Proclamation of the Republic to contemporary history ). The museum’s library is also located on this second floor.

The Institutional Archive, the Conservation and Restoration Laboratory, the numismatic collection (at Casa do Trem) and the technical and administrative areas of the museum are located on the third floor.

Collection
The formation of the collection of the National Historical Museum began with the transfer of items from other institutions that already existed at the time of its foundation. Several items and pieces came from the National Archives museum and from the National Library’s numismatics office. The Casa da Moeda, the National Museum of Fine Arts, the Ministry of the Army and the Ministry of the Navy also contributed to the initial formation of the collection.

They helped to compose the museum’s collection, in its initial period, the donation of private collectors, such as that of Bahian senator Miguel Calmon du Pin e Almeida, that of the Guinle family and that of the museologist Sophia Jobin. Another important collection, acquired in the early years of the museum, is that of religious sculptures in ivory by the businessman and collector Souza Lima, bought by President Getúlio Vargas in an auction promoted by Caixa Econômica Federal, in 1940.

History file
The historical archive of the National Historical Museum is made up of collections, most of which are of a private nature, which house 55,600 iconographic and manuscript documents, important for the history of Brazil.

Institutional Archive
With 250 linear meters of varied documentation, the Institutional Archive is a source of research on the history of the MHN itself, museums in Brazil, the political and administrative history of culture in the country.

Bibliographic
The National Historical Museum Library offers the public a vast collection, comprising works from the 16th to the 21st century. They are books, brochures, periodicals and special materials, covering topics such as Decorative Art, Numismatics, Philately, Clothing, History of Brazil, History of Rio de Janeiro, History of Portugal, Heraldry, Genealogy, Sigilography, Gastronomy and Museology.

Museological
The museum collection of the National Historical Museum, with about 170 thousand items, is formed by collections of objects that date from Antiquity to the present day. This collection includes a varied typology of cultural goods.

The numismatic collection presents the collections of coins, medals, stamps, sigilographic stamps and printed values, in addition to the circulating medium of Brazil and Portugal totaling more than 150 thousand items. The quality of the collection makes the numismatic collection the most expressive in South America.

Other types of three-dimensional goods – about 22 thousand items of religious art, jewelry, basketry, toys, works of art, armory, textiles, among other objects dating from the 16th to the 21st centuries. The National Historical Museum provides the first online version of its museum collection with 500 paintings.

The project is the result of cooperation between the Ministry of Culture (MinC), the Brazilian Museum Institute (Ibram) and the Federal University of Goiás (UFG).

Exhibition
The collection open to visitors is divided into several exhibitions, permanent and temporary. Permanent exhibitions include:

The “Pátio dos canhões”, which houses the museum’s cannon collection and gathers copies from Portugal, England, France, Holland and Brazil; it was the first exhibition in the country to have captions in Braille;
“Oreretama”, is dedicated to the presence of indigenous peoples in the country, from the most remote past to the present day.
The exhibition “Portuguese in the World” shows the colonization process and its economic and cultural developments, consisting of pieces related to navigation, sugar cane and coffee crops, mining, the arrival of the Portuguese court in Brazil.
“The Construction of the State” seeks to portray the Independence of Brazil, the imperial period and immigration of the 19th century, among other issues related to that time;
“The Construction of Citizenship” presents an overview of the country’s history, from the Proclamation of the Republic to contemporary history.
The exhibition “From Furniture to Automobile: transiting through History”, which shows 29 pieces such as chairs, carriages and marbles. One of the rarities of this exhibition is the Protos car, belonging to Barão do Rio Branco and one of only two in the world.
The museum has an Education Sector that caters to elementary and high schools, as well as visitors in general. The visitor can also make use of audio guides in Portuguese, English and Spanish, in addition to a visual version in pounds only. A part of the items on display have tactile models with braille captions. All visiting areas of the museum allow the free circulation of wheelchair users.

Publications

Magazines
Aimed at the production and dissemination of knowledge since its creation, the National Historical Museum launched in 1940 the first volume of its Anais, a publication that circulated regularly until 1975.
After a two-decade stoppage, the edition of the Anais was resumed in 1995.

With penetration in Brazil and abroad, the Anais are reference material for researchers in the areas of humanities and social sciences.

In 1999, with the support of the company DocPro, the CD-ROM “Coletânea dos Anais do Museu Nacional Nacional – 1940 to 1998” was released, meeting numerous requests for volumes already sold out..

Books
Annually the MHN also publishes the Book of the Seminar, which presents a collection of texts produced by the speakers of the International Seminar, from the previous year, and others related to the theme of the seminar. Like the Anais, the seminar books are part of the mandatory bibliography for public tenders.

Catalogs
Eventually, catalogs and didactic notebooks for exhibitions and guides for visiting long-term and itinerant exhibitions for teachers, visitors and tour guides are produced, which can be purchased at the Museum Shop.