Last Updated: 02 july 2025,
Show will feature selected rooms and a small portion of the collection; institution seeks R$170 million to complete reconstruction
The National Museum in Rio de Janeiro will reopen to the public this Wednesday (2) for a temporary exhibition, seven years after the 2018 fire that destroyed historic artifacts and much of the building’s structure. It marks the first reopening since the incident, which was caused by failures in the electrical system.
The reopening is partial, and the exhibition will last for two months. Three rooms will be open to visitors, including the entrance hall.
The main pieces on display in the exhibition Among Giants will be the Bendegó meteorite — the largest ever found in Brazil, weighing over five tons and having survived the fire due to its chemical composition — and the skeleton of a 15.7-meter-long sperm whale.
The museum, founded in 1818, once housed 20 million items in its collection, including entomological, botanical, archaeological, and anthropological artifacts.
The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, which manages the museum, estimates that R$170 million ($31 million) is still needed out of the R$500 million ($91 million) required to complete reconstruction. Companies like Vale, Bradesco, and Eletrobras helped fund part of the work, along with BNDES and the Ministry of Education, which reported allocating R$50.6 million in 2023 and 2024.
