Brazil to partner with Germany to restore museum destroyed by fire
108 views · Published 16 December 2018 · 2:54 · Indexed 12 November 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(10 Dec 2018) Ever since a fire gutted Brazil's 200-year-old National Museum in Rio de Janeiro, experts have been working to find ways to restore the building. The director of Brazil's National Museum and the German consul to Brazil on Monday announced a partnership for the recovery and reconstruction of the museum. Brazil's National Museum, is one of the world's oldest. It housed more than 20 million pieces before being gutted by a massive fire on Sept. 2. Germany is now hoping to have a more central role in the restoration effort. It already sent two experts from Cologne to collaborate with Brazilian teams along with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). On Monday, during a news conference held in Rio de Janeiro, Germany's consul to Brazil Klaus Zillikens announced that his country would donate 200,000 euros (227,000 USD) towards reconstruction efforts. Alexander Kellner, director of Brazil's National Museum said the recovery and reconstruction of the museum required a group effort. Kellner also said he hopes Brazilian business owners would participate in the efforts. Researchers say they have already recovered more than 1,500 pieces, but more work remains to be done. Among the objects feared lost from the 20 million-piece collection were: furniture and art belonging to the royal family; recordings of indigenous languages, some of which are no longer spoken; priceless specimens of everything from rare butterflies and other insects to coral; a collection of Egyptian mummies and artifacts considered the largest in Latin America; frescoes from Pompeii and one of the oldest human fossils ever found in the Americas. International experts warn however that there are limits to recovery efforts, emphasizing the inescapable loss of original, irreplaceable objects. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/a8ffb395ccbcb2f86c46b2cfa0a67c52
