Museum of Ceará

he Ceará Museum is located in the city of Fortaleza, home to more than 13,000 pieces distributed in three important collections that tell the history of Ceará : Paleontology, Archeology / Indigenous Anthropology and Furniture.

It exhibits permanent thematic exhibitions, with themes of interest in the history of Ceará , such as the constituted powers, popular struggles and revolts, religiosity, intellectual production and the irreverence of Ceará.

History 

The current Museum of Ceará has its collections originated in the first museum of Ceará, belonging to the physician Joaquim Antônio Alves, who, in 1873, organized a collection of objects and fragments of nature. This collection composed the Provincial Museum, that operated between 1875 and 1885 as one of the dependence of the Cearense Cabinet of Reading. From 1894, Francisco Dias da Rocha formed a collection for the Rocha Museum, which worked until 1950.

The Historical Museum of Ceará was only created in 1932, by the then governor Roberto Carlos Vasco Carneiro de Mendonça . It was created in conjunction with the State Public Archive . In 1951, the Public Archive was transferred to the Senator Alencar Palace, the museum being housed in the Sé Cathedral building until 1957, and was transferred to the Ceará Institute. In 1955, new pieces were added to the collection, the indigenous collections of the former Museum of the Institute and the Rocha Museum, and the latter became known as the Historical and Anthropological Museum of Ceará.

In 1967, the museum returned to the tutelage of the state linked to the Secretariat of Culture of the State of Ceará (Secult). In 1973, the Palace Senator Alencar was listed as a National Monument by IPHAN . In 1990, under the administration of Governor Tasso Jereissati, it was restored and became the headquarters of the current Museum of Ceará. It was reopened on March 25, 1998, in commemoration of the 144 years of the abolition of slavery in Ceará. The majestic building was then adapted for the operation of the museum and since 1998 hosts long and short exhibitions. In 2001, the Paulo Freire Room was created, which hosts lectures, courses and seminars. The following year, Frei Tito Memorial was opened, a tribute to the religious who lived during the military regime established in the country in 1964. The Ceará Museum also has Technical Reserve, Education Center room, administration room and library. It still has in its collection a feather collection that was also registered by IPHAN.

Palace Senador Alencar

The former Provincial Assembly of Ceará was transferred after the construction of the building during the years 1856 and 1871. According to the report of the president of the province, Dr. Joaquim Vilela de Castro Tavares , until then the Provincial Assembly occupied a building " to the sessions of some village municipality ". In 1856, the president of the Council of the Municipal Government, Vicente Pires da Mota , ordered the construction of the building to be lifted, and Antônio Rodrigues Ferreira, the Mayor of António , ordered the houses called "Agustinha quarters", a some foodstuffs, for the installation of the future headquarters of the Provincial Assembly. The work began on October 25, 1856, by the contractor Joaquim da Fonseca Soares e Silva. The building would serve to the Legislative Assembly of Ceará and to the Lyceum , however, on July 1, 1858, in a report by the president, the Assembly decided to assign another place to the Lyceum, being the building for exclusive use of the Legislative.

Between the years of 1857 and 1863, this work was paralyzed. Subsequently, the design and execution of the work were entrusted to the engineer Adolpho Herbster, who elaborated the plans from the already ready foundations of the first phase of the construction.

Its inauguration took place on July 4, 1871, in which distinguished politicians were present, such as Deputy Gonçalo Baptista Vieira , Barão de Aquiraz, and the president of the Province of Ceará . The place was denominated Palace Senator Alencar , in just homage to Jose Martiniano Pereira de Alencar , famous politician of the Empire , father of the novelist Jose de Alencar . The building also housed the Faculty of Law , the Public Library , the Ceará Academy of Letters , the Ceará Institute and the Regional Electoral Court.

Building characteristics

The neoclassical building that houses the Museum of Ceará is isolated from the surroundings, with no retreat and a rectangular plan with accesses on the four sides.The typology and nature of the adornments is similar between the first floor and the ground floor. The difference with respect to the frames is the presence of worked rail closing the upper frames, as sills of houses; already in the ground floor the openings are closed only with mixed frames of wood and glass. The main access is well marked by the presence of Doric colonnades that support the pavement of the upper floor, avarandado enclosed by balustrade and the presence of a triangular pediment where you can see the Coat of Arms of the Republic . The wall cladding has negative horizontal beads that converge to the arcs of the openings radially; the vertical marking of the façades is due to the slightly raised pillars, the horizontal bordering both floors and is made up of a cornice in the center and another one in the top in the platibanda.

Tombamento patrimonial

The building is protected by the Federal Tombo: Process nº 863-T 72, Book of the Historical Tombo, Inscription nº 440, Fls. 72; Book of Tombo of Fine Arts, Inscription no. 502, date: February 28, 1973. It is considered the official landmark of the Brazilian neoclassical style.

Source: https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museu_do_Ceará