Afro-Brazilian Museum

Afro-Brazilian Museum
Name	Afro-Brazilian Museum
Native name	Museu Afro-Brasileiro
Established	1980
Location	Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
Type	Ethnographic museum
Collections	African diasporic art, religious artifacts, historical documents
Visitors	100000
Director	Maria Silva

Afro-Brazilian Museum is a museum in Salvador, Bahia dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of African diasporic heritage in Brazil. The institution documents the transatlantic slave trade, Candomblé religious traditions, quilombos resistance, and the contributions of African-descended Brazilians to national culture. It serves as an archive, exhibition space, research center, and community hub connecting local and international networks.

History

The museum emerged from collaborations among activists, scholars, and institutions: Jorge Amado, Gilberto Freyre, Pelourinho Historic Center, Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional, Fundação Cultural do Estado da Bahia, and community leaders associated with Ilê Aiyê, Olodum, Mãe Menininha do Gantois, Mãe Stella de Oxóssi, Tia Ciata. Its founding involved negotiations with municipal authorities in Salvador (Bahia), philanthropic donors such as Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, and academic partners at Federal University of Bahia, University of São Paulo, Universidade Federal do Recôncavo da Bahia and the Museum of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania. Early exhibitions referenced scholars like Sergio Buarque de Holanda, Anibal Quijano, Edward Said, Stuart Hall, and activists from Movimento Negro Unificado. International exchanges connected the museum with British Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Musée du quai Branly, National Museum of African Art, and Museu Nacional (Rio de Janeiro) before the latter's 2018 fire highlighted heritage vulnerabilities. The museum's archival acquisitions included documents related to the Transatlantic slave trade, legal petitions from quilombola communities, and oral histories recorded with elders of Pelourinho and surrounding neighborhoods.

Collections and Exhibits

Collections encompass ritual objects, textiles, sculpture, photographs, audiovisual recordings, and rare books linking figures and places: Yoruba, Fon people, Benin, Kongo Kingdom, Angola, Afonso I of Kongo, Nzinga of Ndongo, Maroons (escaped slaves), Zumbi dos Palmares, Quilombo dos Palmares, Tia Ciata's repertoire, and material related to performers such as Carmen Miranda, Dorival Caymmi, Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Maria Bethânia, Caetano Veloso's Tropicalia movement, Tim Maia, Elza Soares, Milton Nascimento, Chico Buarque, Martinho da Vila, Beth Carvalho, Adoniran Barbosa, Luiz Gonzaga, and Jackson do Pandeiro. The museum displays iconography tied to Candomblé lineages—Oshun, Oxum, Yemanjá, Exu, Ogum, Oxóssi—and artifacts connected to Afro-Brazilian intellectuals such as Abdias do Nascimento, Lima Barreto, Carolina Maria de Jesus, Joaquim Nabuco, Antônio Conselheiro, João do Rio, Machado de Assis, Rui Barbosa, and Benedita da Silva. Exhibits interpret material from colonial actors like Manuel da Nóbrega, Tomé de Sousa, and documents referencing the Treaty of Tordesillas footprint, as well as modern social movements including Black Awareness Day, Movimento Negro Unificado (MNU), Marcha das Mulheres Negras, and international diasporic linkages to Harlem Renaissance, Negritude, Pan-Africanism, and figures such as W. E. B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, Aimé Césaire, Frantz Fanon, Kwame Nkrumah, and Amilcar Cabral. The collection holds works by visual artists like Tarsila do Amaral, Candido Portinari, Abaporu-era artists, Ruth de Souza (actress), Heitor dos Prazeres, Arthur Bispo do Rosário, Hélio Oiticica, Lygia Clark, Abraham Palatnik, and contemporary creators from Bahia and Rio de Janeiro.

Architecture and Building

Housed in a restored building in Pelourinho Historic Center, the museum occupies colonial-era architecture influenced by Portuguese baroque styles associated with Aleijadinho's contemporaries and conservation practices promoted by IPHAN and restoration teams linked to UNESCO World Heritage Centre. The site’s fabric features azulejos, lioz stone floors, and courtyards similar to estates in Recôncavo Baiano and manor houses described in accounts by Gonçalo Coelho and travelers like Debret and Félix Émile Taunay. Recent retrofits employed techniques advocated by ICOMOS and engineers linked to Universidade Federal da Bahia to improve climate control for fragile holdings and to mitigate risks highlighted after the Museu Nacional (Rio de Janeiro) fire.

Cultural and Educational Programs

Programs include guided tours, school partnerships with Secretaria de Educação do Estado da Bahia, workshops with cultural groups like Olodum, Ilê Aiyê, and scholars from Federal University of Bahia, Universidade Estadual do Sudoeste da Bahia, and visiting researchers from SOAS University of London, Columbia University, Harvard University, University of Cambridge, and Stanford University. Public events feature performances referencing genres and figures such as samba, axé music, capoeira, capoeira mestre Pastinha, berimbau, samba schools like Mangueira, Maracatu, timbalada, and tributes to artists like Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso. Educational initiatives align with curricular themes in collaborations with Instituto Anísio Teixeira, historian projects about slave rebellions, and oral-history programs training students to document narratives connected to quilombola communities and leaders like Zumbi dos Palmares.

Community Engagement and Impact

The museum partners with neighborhood associations in Pelourinho, quilombola associations from Santo Antônio de Matos, and NGOs such as Instituto de Pesquisa e Formação Indígena and SOS Candomblé-style advocacy groups to support cultural heritage preservation. Its outreach supports tourism circuits promoted by Prefeitura de Salvador and networks including Rede Brasileira de Museus and international solidarity with African-American cultural centers, Afro-Latinx organizations, and diasporic festivals like Caribbean Carnival exchanges. Impact studies by researchers affiliated with CAPES and CNPq evaluate social inclusion metrics and cultural economy effects tied to festivals, crafts markets, and heritage-driven employment.

Administration and Funding

Governance blends municipal oversight from Prefeitura de Salvador with advisory boards including representatives from Fundação Cultural do Estado da Bahia, academics from Federal University of Bahia, and community leaders from Ilê Aiyê and Olodum. Funding streams combine public grants from state cultural agencies, project funding from Fundação Nacional de Artes (Funarte), private donations historically sourced from Ford Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation, and ticket revenue. Research grants have been awarded by FAPESB, CAPES, and CNPq. Partnerships with international institutions like Smithsonian Institution and British Council provide exchange funding and technical assistance.

Category:Museums in Salvador, Bahia