Memories of National Museum visitors: remembrances that will not fade

Abstract

The Observatório de Museus e Centros de Ciência e Tecnologia (OMCC&T) conducted research entitled Remembrances, Memories, Impacts: What Constitutes the Public of a Science Museum?. A total of 619 forms were filled by visitors of six different museums, of which 87 were drawn to be interviewed about their recollections related to visits to museums. Since over 70% of the memories refer specifically to the National Museum, we chose to focus on these interviewees. With document analysis, which included regiments, institutional reports, photographic collection and journalistic articles, the research investigated the history of the institution, obtaining important elements that help to understand the construction of the relationship of the Museum with its various publics throughout its two thousand years. The historical approach highlights, among other information, the original and current location of the institution and its related problems; the participation of the media in the dissemination process; the configuration of the Museum’s grand collection; the sharing of the territory with a public park and zoo, which conferred on the site characteristics of family and social leisure as well as many visitors throughout the decades. The speeches from the interviewees formed the second pillar of the study, which detailed the emotional bonds of their memories. The reports were characterized by valuing family connections, feelings of happiness, amazement at the magnificence of the palace architecture and the collection, in addition to the deep sadness experienced by the fire that destroyed most of the National Museum property.