The National Museum of Brazil fire broke out on September 2, 2018, at around 19:30 local time (22:30 UTC) at the Paço de São Cristóvão in Rio de Janeiro, which houses the 200-year-old National Museum of Brazil. The museum held more than 20 million items, and the cultural loss resulting from the fire has been described as significant. The president of Brazil, Michel Temer, deemed the fire an "incalculable" loss to the historical and cultural heritage of the country. The cause of the fire has yet to be determined. It was reported that a firefighter suffered burns during the rescue of pieces from the collection.
The building, located at the Quinta da Boa Vista park as the São Cristóvāo palace, was constructed in the early 19th century, when it was donated to the Portuguese Royal family and later renovated. It was the residence of emperors Pedro I and Pedro II. The museum took over the location in 1892, three years after the country became a republic. With budget cuts year-on-year since 2014, the museum did not receive the R$520,000 per year necessary for its maintenance, and it closed temporarily in 2015 when cleaning and security staff could no longer be paid. Repairs to a popular exhibit hall had to be crowd-funded, and, by 2018, the museum's maintenance budget had been cut by 90 per cent. There were visible signs of decay before the fire, such as peeling walls and exposed wiring. The museum celebrated its 200th anniversary in June 2018 in a situation of partial abandonment; no state ministers attended the occasion.
The museum's deputy director, Luiz Fernando Dias Daniel, pointed to neglect by successive governments as a cause of the fire, saying that curators "fought with different governments to get adequate resources to preserve what is now completely destroyed" and that he felt "total dismay and immense anger." The museum held more than 20 million objects, spanning 11,000 years of world history. It contained important artifacts from the entirety of Brazilian history, including those "that helped define the national identity".
Shortly after the museum closed on September 2, 2018, a large fire broke out. It reached all three floors of the National Museum building. Firefighters were called at 19:30 local time (22:30 UTC), arriving quickly at the scene. However, the fire chief reported that the two fire hydrants closest to the museum had no water, and trucks had to be sent to a nearby lake. A spokesman for the fire department told media that the fire crews went inside the burning building, despite there being no people inside, in order to rescue artifacts. Aided by museum staff, they "were able to remove a lot of things from inside".
The fire was out of control by 21:00 (00:00 UTC September 3), with great flames and occasional explosions,[21] being fought by firefighters from four sectors. Dozens of people went to Quinta da Boa Vista to see the fire. A specialized team of firefighters entered the building at 21:15 to try to block areas still not hit by the flames, and to evaluate the extent of the damage. However, by 21:30, the whole building had been engulfed by the fire, including exhibitions of Imperial rooms that were in the two areas at the front of the main building. The four security guards who were on duty at the museum managed to escape; first reports stated that there were no casualties, although a firefighter related that suffered burns while trying to rescue the Luzia Woman fossil, a 11,500-year-old skeleton of a Paleo-Indian woman.
The president of the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage, Kátia Bogéa, said that "[i]t's a national and worldwide tragedy. Everybody can see that this is not a loss for the Brazilian people, but for the whole humanity" and commented that it was "a predictable tragedy, because we've known for a long time that Brazilian cultural heritage has no budget".
Museums around the world sent their condolences. In the UK, the British Library said "[o]ur hearts go out to the staff and users of [the National Museum] of Brazil" and called the fire "[a] reminder of the fragility and preciousness of our shared global heritage"; London's Natural History Museum, the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and the Smithsonian Institution were among other institutions expressing their sorrow. The head of the Australian Museum said that she was "shocked", "devastated", and "distraught".
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