The Paço de São Cristóvão ( St Christopher’s Palace), seat of the Portuguese (1808 to 1821) and Brazilian (1822 to 1889) empires, has been home to Rio’s National Museum
since 1892. Brazil’s first museum and its oldest institution for research and education in the natural sciences and anthropology, the museum suffered a major fire in September
2018, which not only caused serious damage but also destroyed a large part of the collections. The building was also badly damaged; the repercussions of this incident in the country and abroad were immense, due to the cultural importance of the Museum. Restoring the museum presented a number of obstacles. The worldwide pandemic of 2020, the complexity of institutional relations and restrictions on obtaining and managing resources in Brazil are just some of the issues that slowed progress on this important project for the country’s heritage and history.
The reconstruction works began in 2021, with a view to a partial reopening in 2026 and full completion of the works in 2028. This project aims to restore and modernise the Museum to meet current standards of safety, comfort and accessibility. The challenge for the setec teams responsible for managing the architectural and complementary projects (44 projects and
consultations) was to consolidate the most fragile remains as quickly as possible, and to bring together the multiple teams responsible for resolving conceptual, heritage, environmental, legal and technical issues. Although the fire destroyed the building, it also revealed information about its original construction.
At the end of the restoration, future visitors will be able to discover a more modern and secure museum, where traces of the past have been preserved in order to conserve the heritage value of this major cultural site in Latin America.
