The Museum of Ceará was the first public museum in Ceará. Created in 1932, it was initially operated by the State Public Archive and later by the Ceará Historic, Geographic and Anthropological Institute, until 1966, when it became part of the then-newly created State Secretary of Culture.

 

Housed, since 1990, in the former Legislative Assembly building, Senador Alencar Palace, situated next to the so-called “Praça dos Leões (Lions’ Square)” in the Fortaleza city centre, the Museum of Ceará’s mission is to foster critical thinking on the History of Ceará through material culture.

 

The institution’s archives contain approximately 12 thousand items, divided into archaeological, indigenous anthropologic, photographic, clothing, furniture, numismatic and painting collections, among others.

 

Continually urging the public to reflect, a visit to the museum allows for the knowledge of the institution’s own memory, the observation of archaeological objects from indigenous populations, the analysis of forms of power construction, the testament to the force of the written word by Ceará writers, the identification of forms of exploitation of workers throughout history, the recognition of the mythical figure of Padre Cícero, the understanding of popular movements and the development of imagination of the city of Fortaleza that one desires.

 

The museum also contains the Friar Tito Memorial (Tito de Alencar Lima), a Dominican friar born in Ceará who became one of the most important names in the struggle for human rights, a target of the military dictatorship implanted in Brazil in 1964.

 

Visitors and researchers also have at their disposal a library made up of books written on the subjects of history, Ceará literature and museology, and an auditorium with courses, workshops, lectures and video and documentary showings.

 

 

 

Recife, 25 November 2010.

Translated by Peter Leamy, January 2012.

sources consulted

ASSOCIAÇÃO DOS AMIGOS DO MUSEU DO CEARÁ (Org.). Museu do Ceará. Fortaleza: SECULT, 2010.

MUSEU do Ceará. Nossa história no plural. Governo do Estado do Ceará. Secretaria de Cultura. Folder.

 

how to quote this text

Source: OLIVEIRA, Albino. Museum Of Ceará. Pesquisa Escolar Online, Joaquim Nabuco Foudation, Recife. Available at:  <http://basilio.fundaj.gov.br/pesquisaescolar/>. Accessed: day month year. Exemple: 6 Aug. 2009