ABOVE: The Natural History Museum and Botanical Garden of the Federal University of Minas Gerais in 2013.
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, ANDREVRUAS
Early on the morning of June 15, a fire broke out in an annex of the Natural History Museum and Botanical Garden in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Though quickly contained, storage rooms that housed portions of the museum’s 260,000 piece collection were affected. The cause of the fire is not known.
The museum, known as MHNJB, is part of the Federal University of Minas Gerais and is home to archeological artifacts (including human skeletons that are thousands of years old), archival documents, Brazilian folk art, plants, insect specimens, and more. Two of the affected rooms were severely damaged by smoke and soot, while others bore the flames’ brunt. Museum officials have not yet fully accounted for what was lost, although their statements have not been optimistic.
For the collection in the ...
