Brazil's Museum Fire: Novelist Paulo Coelho on Brazil's National Museum fire: 'The country is in tears'

More than twenty million things square measure feared broken or fully destroyed following a huge hearth at the National deposit of Brazil that moulding through the historic building on Sunday night.

The museum, situated in a very former palace in American state Janeiro|Rio|city|metropolis|urban center} de Janeiro, boasted a variety of art, artifacts and preserved zoological species and fossils. the ability was one in every of the country’s oldest scientific establishment.

Investigators haven't determined the explanation for the hearth.

As staff arrange to recover the museum’s loved possessions, or what's left of them, here’s a glance at a number of the things it showcased within.

The official residence was Saint Christopher’s Palace – which building later became the National deposit. But now, rather than celebrating the 2 hundredth birthday of this brilliant establishment, Brazil is in tears as a result of it's burned down. If this historic landmark symbolised the start of the state, the hearth symbolises a rustic wherever a scarcity of culture and education is that the greatest drawback.

Brazilians travel round the world in their millions, visiting fantastic museums just like the poet in London, the Metropolitan in the big apple, and also the Louvre in Paris, that had quite eight million guests last year. however it's not overstating things to mention that city – with its wide  views of mountains, forests and also the ocean – is that the most stunning town within the world.

So why did the National deposit – the foremost fantastic deposit in thusuth America with its 2m artefacts, its Egyptian assortment and also the most ancient fossils in Brazilian history – receive solely 154,000 guests a year?

We blame the govt for neglecting our history. But we, the Brazilian folks, neglect it too. Brazil may be a fantastic country, a gorgeous country, however it's spoilt by the dearth of education. Poor folks in Brazil don't head to faculty, plus to museums. wealthy folks head to museums – however in London, the big apple or Paris, not in city or metropolis.

Ipiranga deposit in metropolis, engineered wherever Brazilian independence was settled in 1822, has been closed for 5 years. currently that the National deposit has died in flames, we tend to surprise what will happen with Ipiranga. we tend to surprise what will happen with our souls.