“Man is the most important piece of this museum.”
(Phrase written at the entrance of Marajó Museum)
Conceived by Jesuit priest Giovanni Gallo, the Marajó Museum, located in Cachoeira do Arari on Marajó Island, Pará, is a memory centre for the Marajoara people. Pieces from archaeological sites, dating from 400 to 1300CE, daily artefacts, tools of the local population and a reproduction of a traditional “cabocla” [peasant] dwelling are part of the museum’s collection, which was created in an attempt to “recover, preserve and share Marajoara culture with the world.” (LINHARES, 2007, p.35).
Born in Turin, Italy, Gallo came to Brazil in the 1970s. Before arriving in the Jenipapo community on Marajó Island in 1973, he stopped at Salvador and São Luís. The riverside community had no power, water or telephones and the landscape, natural and cultural, was totally unknown to him. For thirty years, he lived in Marajó, where he was very active in social enterprises, which made him a popular person who moved in different circles, from fishermen to politicians. In 1981, Gallo received the title of Citizen of Pará and, in 2000, the title of Citizen from Pará Tourism.
From his arrival, Gallo was concerned to preserve the history and the memory of the place and of the people. Local residents began to bring him ‘fragments’ (archaeological pieces) which he began to keep. In this way, he first founded “Nosso Museu” (Our Museum) in Santa Cruz do Arari, which was moved to Cachoeira do Arari as it would be a place of easier access and where he would have more political support for the endeavour. The name was changed to Museu do Marajó (Marajó Museum). Gallo envisioned the museum as a place of memory and social identity, but also as a space for research, education and social development.
The Museum was designed as “a place that would value the Marajoara individual, their ideas, customs, values and thoughts, a man/region interaction” (LINHARES, 2007, p.43). From the beginning, the museum had the purpose to represent man as its centrepiece. To form it, in addition to donations of archaeological pieces, Gallo undertook a survey in the region to document legends, stories, beliefs, religion and the relationship with the environment of the islanders. He also compiled a photographic record of his expeditions and collected objects for the exhibition.
In the first room of the museum, which is a large hall, exhibited in glass cases are Marajoara ceramics (bowls, urns, etc.) and replicas made by artisans. In another space are objects related to the presence of black slaves in the region, such as instruments of torture. Throughout the museum, there are several “Caboclo computers”, as Gallo called them, which are panels and boxes that allow visitor interaction, as a sort of game, on various issues: the Tupi language, the life of the Marajoara people, traditional medicine, and others. “These contraptions use mobile plates, hatches, gears, wheels and windows that, when manipulated, uncover secrets. To make them, given the lack of resources, he encouraged the use of natural materials such as wood, seeds, fruit kernels, straw and others. Low-budget offset by high creativity” (REALI; REALI, 2007). This museum design that encourages touch is, according to Linhares (2007), avant-garde and has become used by many museums today.
Since Gallo’s death in 2003, the Museum has struggled for maintenance and has faced structural and administrative problems, notably the lack of trained personnel to handle the collection and storage of its pieces.
Recife, 26 May 2014.
Translated by Peter Leamy, March 2015.
sources consulted
LINHARES, Anna Maria Alves. De caco a espetáculo: a produção cerâmica de Cachoeira do Arari (Ilha do Marajó, PA). Dissertação (Mestrado em Ciências Sociais) – Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, 2007. Available at:
<http://www.ppgcs.ufpa.br/arquivos/dissertacoes/dissertacaoTurma2005-AnaLinhares.pdf>.
Accessed: 17 maio 2014.
MUSEU do Marajó precisa de incentivos. Diário do Pará, Belém, 3 ago. 2009. Caderno Você. Available at:
<http://www.diariodopara.com.br/N-54664.html>. Accessed: 17 maio 2014.
REALI, Heitor; REALI, Silvia. Museu do Marajó: o delírio genial de padre Gallo. Revista Planeta, edição 422, dez. 2007. Available at:
<http://revistaplaneta.terra.com.br/secao/reportagens/museu-do-marajo>. Accessed: 17 maio 2014.
how to quote this text
Source: MORIM, Júlia. Marajó Museum. Pesquisa Escolar Online, Joaquim Nabuco Foundation, Recife. Available at: <https://pesquisaescolar.fundaj.gov.br/en/>. Accessed: day month year. Ex: 6 ago. 2009