1
FUNARI, P.P.A. Destruction and conservation of cultural property in Brazil: academic and
practical challenges. In: Destruction and Conservation of Cultural Property. Edited by R. Layton,
P.G. Stone and J. Thomas, London and New York, Routledge, 2001, 93-101.
DESTRUCTION AND CONSERVATION OF CULTURAL PROPERTY: A
PERIPHERAL OUTLOOK FROM BRAZIL
Funari1, Pedro Paulo A.
During the recent World Archaeological Congress Intercongress, in Croatia, on the Destruction
and Conservation of Cultural Property, several speakers emphasized the importance of preserving
historical buildings, artefacts and cultural assets in general and some payed special attention to
the different ways of destroying the archaeological heritage. Among the factors contributing to
the decay and destruction of cultural property, wars, ethnic and civil conflicts, as well as the
incitement for the destruction of property on political grounds were also extensively mentioned
and discussed (Funari & Podgorny forthcoming). Brazil, a country in South America, witnessed
no war in the last decades and the several coups and civil wars (1930, 1932, 1945, 1964) were not
particularly bloody nor affected directly cultural properties. Brazil is considered a peaceful
country, as even dictatorships have been less violent than elsewhere in Latin America and in the
world. What are then the main threats to the archaeological heritage in Brazil? The main goal of
this paper is thus to discuss briefly this topic, as well as to deal with the outlook for Brazilian
heritage preservation.
Brazil is very rich in cultural properties, as this huge country, larger than the continuous
continental United States of America, was inhabited by several million indigenous habitants
when the Portuguese arrived and settled from AD 1500. South America had been inhabited for at
least several thousand years and the colonisers settled in the Atlantic coast and for the next five
centuries conquered the backlands to the West, destroying the living natives in the process. The
native inhabitants, known as “Indians”, left a very rich material track behind them, from
thousands of Rock Art sites to the remains of villages throughout the country, pottery, lithic
material, bone artefacts, among other items, rightfully now acknowledged as mankind’s heritage.
Even though there are only some two to three hundred professional archaeologists in Brazil,
probably thus one of the least explored countries in the world, several thousand prehistoric sites
are known in Brazil and the lack of a directory of archaeological sites does not hide the huge
native heritage already known. Considering the area of the country (3,286,470 square miles) and
the small number of archaeologists, there are 10,954 square miles for each archaeologist and so
the identification of sites is particularly difficult.
Post conquest heritage is also important, particularly in the East of the country, where the
European settlement has been more effective for several centuries. The colonisers founded towns
and cities, with Catholic Church buildings, town halls (câmaras) and other urban facilities, and
for several centuries most people lived in plantations and farms, whose buildings were sometimes
1
Departamento de História, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, C.
Postal 6100, Campinas, 13081-970, SP, Brazil, fax 55 19 289 33 27.
2
quite impressive. Although the rush for development, in the last century or so, meant the
destruction of a lot of traditional cultural properties, such as old houses, Church buildings and
urban equipment in general, the renewal and modernist trends, since the 1930s, left their own
mark in both land and cityscapes, so that the Brazilian notion of heritage include very recent
constructions. In a way, it is easier to consider Brasília, the capital of the country, founded as
recently as 1961, as a National Monument, than to convince ordinary Brazilians that prehistoric
remains deserve the same protection status. Actually, there has always been a bias in Brazilian
heritage management and thought, since its inception in the 1930s, in favour of preserving the
remains of the elite, by definition European, and thus native and ordinary people’s remains have
been neglected and overlooked.
Prehistoric remains have been studied since the mid nineteenth century due to several factors, not
least the importance attached by the imperial authorities to forging a Brazilian national identity.
As the Brazilian independence was not only peaceful but also brought forward by Portuguese
royals, Indian roots were used to forge a new identity, mostly superficial, but in any event, the
Court in Rio de Janeiro was keen to introduce a native image to its European world outlook.
Emperor Peter the Second, a scholar himself, supported the moves by intellectuals to prop up the
idealised Native image and perhaps the most paradigmatic example is given by Il Guarani, the
most famous Italian Opera by Carlos Gomes, whose set in La Scala di Milano was a huge
success. Till this day, Brazilians listen daily to the tune of Il Guarani, and for foreigners it is
probably difficult to understand a Guarani Indian singing in Italian and being a Brazilian hero! In
this context, the National Museum, in the Court City of Rio de Janeiro, included European and
Indian heritage and the old city of Rio de Janeiro, the capital of the whole Portuguese Empire for
a number of years following the invasion of Mainland Portugal in 1808, would never loose its
attachment to a cosmopolitan outlook.
With the end of the monarchy in 1889, Rio de Janeiro continued to be the capital, until 1961, but
the political and economic power went to the West and to the South, as the Republic was
dominated by the Paulista aristocracy, first coffee planters and later industrialists. The ethos of
the Paulista elite payed less attention to the noble Indian image, as historically Paulistas, even
though descendants of Natives and Portuguese themselves, were sworn enemies of Indians, and
Paulistas were known as “Indian raiders” themselves. In the first decades of the twentieth
century, the drive against Indians accentuated and the collection of archaeological remains was
not particularly common. The 1930s witness several political and economic changes, as the
central government for the first time in the Republic established a policy of heritage management,
linked to a new conception of National identity, not far from the nationalist principles imported
from Fascist countries, notably Italy and Poland. A National Heritage Office was established and
the main concern has been with the preservation of high style architecture, sculpture, painting and
other learned arts. Folklore and ethnographic material culture also begun to play a role in shaping
a national identity.
Despite Brazil’s authoritarian rule, the country volunteered to fight together with the Allied
Forces against the Axis countries and even Brazilian troops were sent to the war theatre in Italy
and exiles who lived in the United States of America, France and other countries returned to the
country in 1945, when democracy was restored. Prehistoric remains, left a bit in the shade during
the heyday of nationalist ideology, came back particularly in the actions of humanist and political
activist Paulo Duarte who, despite being a member of Paulista elite, defended for the first time
3
the need to protect humble prehistoric remains. Duarte had been influenced by Paul Rivet and the
Musée de l‘Homme and his humanist approach lead him to propose the protection of shell
middens, so common in the Brazilian coast. These shell middens were being intensively
destroyed by developers, who used the shells to pave streets and roads, destroying the evidence
of prehistoric settlements. Duarte founded the first modern scientific archaeological institution in
the country, the Prehistory Institute, modelled in the same name French Institut de Pré-Histoire,
concerned as he was not only to protect the sites but to begin the scholarly study of the
archaeological material. Duarte was no archaeologist himself, but he brought with him French
scholars who were the first to introduce modern scientific methods. In the same period, others,
like amateur archaeologist Wilhelm Tiburtius, also collected archaeological remains from shell
middens, rushing to save what was possible, when developers used bulldozers and lorries to
destroy these huge archaeological sites. Duarte was able to propose a law for the protection of
archaeological sites, approved by Congress in 1961 and still in force today.
The historical heritage continued to be left to high style loving managers and ordinary people’s
material culture continued to be considered as irrelevant. Even today, in a recent catalogue of all
protected heritage in the State of São Paulo, recently published by São Paulo State Heritage
Office (CONDEPHAAT), there are only high style buildings. The military coup of 1964 put an
end to an era of growing concern for Brazilian roots and diversity, and Duarte’s efforts were
dashed, as he was first left with little funding and later, in 1969, he was expelled from the
University. The archaeological establishment created by the military with the help of the
Americans, notably Betty Meggers, excavated a lot of sites but published very few reports and
reversed the earlier humanist search for native heritage. During the long night of dictatorship
(1964-1985), Heritage Offices continue to work and sometimes even to protect specific
prehistoric or historic sites but the overall trend was clearly conservative and elitist. Even high
style art was subjected to arsonists, during the heyday of military rule, as was the case of the
Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, destroyed by fire twenty years ago (Klein 1998).
Whilst anthropologists were facing the authorities and daring to oppose the official hard line
against natives, Heritage official and archaeologists, with notable exceptions, were contributing
to a one-sided, elitist heritage programme.
The restoration of civilian rule enabled pluralism once again to blossom and heritage was
enlarged to include again Natives remains, but also black and ordinary people’s material culture
too. Town councils, State assemblies and the National Congress enacted several laws regarding
the protection of heritage, widening the whole concept of cultural property and enabling even
ordinary citizens to appeal in court to protect heritage (Tavares 1998). Industrial projects,
building permits and other activities with possible heritage damage are obliged by law to produce
a report and to address the concerns of Brazilian Heritage regional offices. Archaeological
surveys and rescue are also mandatory and several companies are now used to pay for these
archaeological surveys. It is true that most archaeological reports continue not to be published
and that the material itself is often not properly stored. Several other problems plague cultural
property preservation, as thieves are common plunderers of historical artefacts, particularly in ill
protected Church buildings. Recently, it was calculated that the Colonial towns in Minas Gerais
State lost half of all their material artistic assets since the beginning of the twentieth century
(Folha de São Paulo 1998) and nowadays several Church buildings protect their statues and other
material in hoards (Santiago 1998; Mello & Rodrigues 1998). Antics dealers earn a lot of money
trading high style artefacts and police and authorities are often not particularly prone to look for
4
them (Cunha 1998; Santiago & Prates 1998; Santiago 1998). Traffic damages colonial buildings
(Estado de Minas 1998) and the redevelopment of historic areas is still rare (Avancini 1998a;
1998b; Oliveria 1998; Correio Popular 1998). There is a most important factor contributing to
the destruction of heritage: the lack of concern for both ordinary remains and high style artefacts
and buildings, result of people alienation (Estanislau 1998). The same applies to prehistoric sites,
usually left to unsystematic plunder.
The outlook for heritage preservation is thus mixed. The destruction of remains is due to a series
of causes, most of them linked to the lack of comprehensive education about the importance of
the past and the material culture of elite, ordinary people, blacks, Indians. However, freedom in
the last fifteen years or so lead to a growing awareness about the value of preserving buildings
(Ottoboni 1998), Churches (Werneck 1998), humble immigrant artefacts (Ciccone 1998),
museum themselves (Szkarz 1998), as well as prehistoric remains. Brazilian Heritage is
continuously improving its presence in the country and the concept itself of heritage is now much
wider that it once was. The main task tough is to change society, for the lack of concern for
heritage is the result of a longstanding tradition of alienation of ordinary people. Only when
cultural property will be considered as part of the daily lives of ordinary people will preservation
really mean a deep and enduring concern.
Acknowledgements
I owe thanks to Professor Krishna Mohan Shrimali, for inviting me to contribute a paper on this
subject and to Irina Podgorny. Further references and elaboration on several issues raised in this
paper are found in other papers by the author (e.g. Funari 1994; 1995; 1996a; 1996b; forthcoming
a; forthcoming b).
References
Avancini, M. 1998 Programa prevê preservação sustentável, Folha de São Paulo, 2nd August, 3,
p. 10.
Ciccone, M. 1998 História da Imigração sai do baú, Il giornale, 13th August, p. 11.
Cunha, N. 1998 Imagens sacras roubadas voltam para os altares, Estado de Minas, 1st August, p.
29.
Estado de Minas, 1998 Trânsito abala estruturas, Estado de Minas, 26th July, p. 36.
Estanislau, L.A 1998 Silêncios e segredos da cidade, Estado de Minas, Pensar, 25th July, p. 6.
Folha de São Paulo, 1998 Minas já perdeu metade de seu acervo, Folha de São Paulo, 21st
August, 4, p. 11.
Funari, P.P.A. & Podgorny, I. forthcoming, Is Archaeology and exclusively ideological pursuit?,
European Journal of Archaeology.
Funari, P.P.A. 1994. Rescuing ordinary people’s culture: museums, material culture and
education in Brazil. In Stone, P.G. & Molineaux, B.L. (eds), The Presented Past, Heritage,
museums and education. London, Routledge, 120-136.
Funari, P.P.A. 1995. Mixed features of archaeological theory in Brazil. In Ucko, P. (ed.), Theory
in Archaeology, A world perspective. London, Routledge, 236-250.
Funari, P.P.A. 1996a. Historical archaeology in Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina. World
Archaeological Bulletin 7: 51-62.
5
Funari, P.P.A. 1996b, Archaeological theory in Brazil: ethnicity and politics at stake. Historical
Archaeology in Latin America 12: 1-13.
Funari, P.P.A. forthcoming a, Historical Archaeology in South America. In Majewski, T. &
Orser, Jr., C.E. (eds.). International Handbook of Historical Archaeology. New York, Plenum
Press.
Funari, P.P.A. forthcoming b, Destruction and conservation of archaeological property in Brazil,
In Layton, R. (ed.), Destruction and Conservation of Archaeological Property. London,
Routledge.
Klein, C. 1998 Chama Acesa, Jornal do Brasil, 18th July, B, p. 1 and 10.
Mello, R. & Rodrigues, A. 1998 O alarme do santo, Isto É,19th August, 54-55.
Oliveira, E. 1998 Recife e Olinda mudam perfil dos bairros, Folha de São Paulo, 2nd August, 3,
p. 11.
Oliveira, E. 1998 Só São Bento foi revitalizado, Folha de São Paulo, 2nd August, 3, p. 9.
Ottoboni, J. Vale do Paraíba investe na memória arquitetônica, O Estado de São Paulo, 15th
November, C, p.4.
Santiago, C.H. & Prates, F. 1998 Iphan identificará obras apreendidas em São Paulo, Folha de
São Paulo, 30th July, 3, p. 4.
Santiago, C.H. 1998 Polícia de Minas indicia antiquários de São Paulo, Folha de São Paulo, 1st
August, 3, p.9.
Santiago, C.H. 1998 Santos ficam trancados em esconderijos, Folha de São Paulo, 21st August,
4, p. 10.
Szklarz, E. 1998 Museu Abílio Barreto de cara nova, Estado de Minas, 23rd August, p.6.
Tavares, M. 1998 Justiça preserva casarão antigo, Estado de Minas, 13th September, p. 42.
Werneck, G. 1998 Antes que seja tarde demais, Estado de Minas, 26th July, p. 36.