Museum of Sacred Art of Bahia Photo: Wellington Da Costa Gomez

Museum of Sacred Art of Bahia (MAS), whose headquarters are in a former convent in Salvador, has structural and the collection is at serious risk, warns university

Depository of the largest collection of baroque sacred art in Latin America, the Museum of Sacred Art (MAS) of Bahia is experiencing days of anguish in Salvador. Preventively closed on August 10th by the rectory of Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), its manager, due to structural problems, the institution lives under a threat that is already becoming frequent in the national museology scenario.

The rector Paulo Miguez explains that the closure of the Museum became essential as a way of preventing a catastrophe similar to the fire at the National Museum, linked to UFRJ, which caused immeasurable and irreparable losses to the country's historical heritage.

The decision was endorsed by the Higher Education Council on July 30 of this year. “In a scenario of budgetary losses to Higher Education Institutions, which have accumulated over the years, there is no money to cover the recovery of the Museum”, informed the note released by UFBA.

The note highlights how delicate the case of Museum of Sacred Art (and its collection), and how much it needs urgent intervention. The museum has been listed by the National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute (Iphan) since 1938. In 1985, it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The Museum's collection is made up of paintings, tiles, goldsmithing, furniture, religious imagery, pieces of pure silver and other objects that have no similar in other institutions. The works in the permanent collection include pieces from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries and part of the 19th century.

The National Museum of Rio de Janeiro, also linked to a federal university, was destroyed by fire in 2018 (rebuilt, will reopen to the public in 2026).

As it is also an institution linked to a federal university, therefore dependent on transfers of federal resources, the reporting of arte!brasileiros looked for the Brazilian Institute of Museums (Ibram), an organization linked to the Ministry of Culture, to find out how the government monitors the MAS case. “We clarify that the Brazilian Institute of Museums – Ibram – does not have administrative management over the Museum of Sacred Art of Salvador, nor information on the reasons that led to its closure or on the state of preservation of the museum’s collection”, informed the Communications department from Ibram, who also assured that the institute “will check, together with UFBA, the current situation of the Museum’s collection and assess what measures will be necessary”. Recently, there was a R$1,28 billion cut in the Education budget by the federal government, and the annual budgetary allocations of federal universities consequently fell, which does not bode well for the MAS.

The director of MAS, Maria Herminia Olivera Hernández, assured that there are no risks to the collection and informed that the building that houses the museum (whose total area is 5.261 square meters) is already being subject to emergency works undertaken by the university, and seeks support from the city hall and state government to continue with the work. “We hope that other public and private institutions join the effort to restore this valuable cultural heritage,” she told the publication Metro1. The museum, located on Rua do Sodré, close to Praça Castro Alves, in the former Convent of Santa Teresa D´Ávila, and has a church inside, with a silver main altar, from the old Cathedral, demolished in 1933. There is also sacristy, choir, interior chapel, refectory and library with around five thousand titles, available for consultation. The complex has 16 halls, 12 rooms, 10 cells, corridors and galleries and two stone staircases with 17th century tile panels on the walls. Open, it received around 300 people per month.


Virtual tour of the Museum of Sacred Art of Bahia:

Credits:
Project: VIRTUAL TOUR MAS 360 Curatorship and Coordination: Museologist Edjane Silva 360° Photography: Henrique Muccini Editing, Production and Montage: Bahia View360° Aerial Photography: JP Drone and Video

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