When his collection of 90,000 items, which had been purchased, collected or donated, no longer fit in his house, archaeologist Claudio Prado de Mello, aged 51, found an unusual solution to preserve the artifacts: he built a type of Islamic palace with 2,500 m² and put everything inside it.
The location chosen for the museum was as unlikely as its architecture – Anchieta, a poor neighborhood in the north zone of Rio, close to the violent areas of the Chapadão slums and far from the city's cultural sights.
"I inherited two properties and that is why I decided to build the museum there. I decided to use Islamic architecture as a way to draw people's attention," says Mello, who has a Master's degree in archeology from the Federal Fluminense University (UFF).
The columns, arches and domes of the Museu da Humanidade (Museum of Humanity) were finished after 14 years of construction - the museum began to receive visits from groups and students in 2009. Inside the museum, the floor is made of marble mosaics and the walls have inscriptions in Thuluth Arabic.
The collection is comprised of items whose origin range from Classical Antiquity to the 19th century. There are thousands of coins, flasks, clothes, furniture, a 3rd century Greek vase and a 1620 Spanish Jesuit shrine.
The collection is comprised of items whose origin range from Classical Antiquity to the 19th century
Mello led the team in the archaeological excavation for the construction of the subway stations of Ipanema and Leblon, in Rio de Janeiro's south zone.
With the financial support of Rio's government, the institute preserves 1,400 items found during the excavations for the construction of the subway, including a 19th-century chamber-pot and a spittoon of the same period, as well as tiles and coins of Brazil's 2nd Reign (1840-1889).
Translated by THOMAS MUELLO
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