History Burning Down: A Brief History
The Library of Alexandria: With its 700,000 books, the Library of Alexandria was one of the world’s most important libraries. Despite the myth that it was destroyed in a single big fire, it actually suffered a general decline for centuries. It was first damaged when Caesar laid siege to Alexandria and set fire to his fleet in the nearby harbor. A few centuries later, the rest of its contents was lost during the taking of the city by Emperor Aurelian.
Barnum’s American Museum, New York City, USA, July 1865: The fire burned away the museum’s impressive collection of taxidermy — monkeys, lions, elephants, zebras — and, more tragically, of live animals — snakes, pigs, dogs, even a kangaroo, an alligator, and two whales. Most perished in the flames, although a few escaped into the streets, some never to be found again. For years after, people mourned the loss of Barnum’s collection, one of the greatest in New York City up until that time.
The Garden Palace, Sydney, Australia, September 1882: This iron and glass architectural masterpiece was built for the Sydney International Exhibition of 1879. After the exhibition closed, the palace became the first mining and technological museum. 3 years later, a fire totally consumed the building and the artifacts it contained, in just 40 minutes.
Portuguese Language Museum, Sao Paulo, Brazil, December 2015: The museum “which translated the soul of the Brazilian people” according to São Paulo governor, Geraldo Alckmin, was one of Sao Paulo’s most popular landmarks. A major fire damaged the building and killed one firefighter. The installations were restored and are to reopen in 2019.
National Museum of Natural History, New Delhi, India, April 2016: The fire destroyed rare specimens of flora and fauna, including a 160-million-year-old dinosaur fossil. Prakah Javadekar, India’s environment minister, called the accident “tragic” and the museum “a natural treasure".
Museum of History, Aberdeen, USA, June 2018: The flames damaged a cultural landmark in Kurt Cobain’s hometown of Aberdeen. It included items from the Nirvana singer’s early life. In the words of Aberdeen Fire Chief Tom Hubbard, “The museum was just a little gem, people would travel from all over to see it.”
War Museum, Chania, Greece, July 2018: The blaze deprived Chania, considered one of the most beautiful cities of Crete, of one of its historic buildings. “We have lost a rare architectural monument which was of great value to the city” said Hania Mayor Tassos Vamvoukas.
Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, September 2018: the country’s most important museum and its collection of 20 million objects have been consumed by fire. This represents “incalculable loss for Brazil”, according to its President Michel Temer.
Want to prevent history from repeating itself? These are the signs to look out for:
Political leaders aren’t putting enough money into their country’s museums and buildings:
Prior to the National Museum of Natural History burning down, buildings in India had long been plagued by aging infrastructure. In the month leading up to the fire, two other buildings had already collapsed.
Since 2014, the Museu Nacional hadn’t received its full annual $128,000 maintenance budget; this year, it received only $13,000. The museum’s curators had to crowdfund repairs to termite damage in one of the most popular exhibit halls. In fact, the country continues to slash research budgets. In 2017, cut science fundings were cut by 44 percent.
The museum’s safety conditions are poor:
The fire of New Delhi’s Natural History museum was likely worse than it needed to be. Inoperable pumps in the building meant firefighters had to rely on the water in their tanker trucks for the first two hours of the blaze.
There are less and less visitors and/or staff members:
Ever since the Library of Alexandria, cultural landmarks being less and less populated has been a sign of their decay. In 2015, the Museu Nacional, which burned down last month, was forced to close its doors temporarily because it could no longer pay its cleaning and security staff.
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