IPHAN has a record budget to invest in cultural heritage

Brasilia DF) – Frevo, maracatu, carimbó, carnival rhythms and the craft of the baianas do acarajé are cultural expressions that are part of the 52 intangible assets registered as Brazilian intangible heritage. Added to material heritage, which are archaeological, landscape and ethnographic assets; fine arts and applied arts, this set makes up the Brazilian Cultural Heritage. In 2023, this collection will have a record budget of BRL 135 million, which will be invested in actions and projects, as well as in works of the Historic Cities Growth Acceleration Program, created in 2013, during the Dilma Rousseff government.

The president of the National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute, Leandro Grass, spoke in an interview with the program Brazil on agendafrom TV Brazil, on the subject. “The current budget returns to a budget similar to that of 2016. It is a change of route in the Brazilian cultural heritage policy”.

In addition to budgetary issues, the president of Iphan commented on the return of the institute to the Ministry of Culture and the importance of the heritage policy for the country. “Iphan must be linked to the Ministry of Culture par excellence, because our cultural heritage policy concerns not only what is most visible to society, which are restoration and conservation works, but also says a lot about the our relationship with the cultural activity of each region of the country”, he explained.

“Heritage is a cultural issue in essence because it concerns the history of humanity, all its achievements, it has to do with important moments for society as a whole. Therefore, we have some cultural goods that are Brazilian cultural heritage that have a very strong relationship with communities of African origin, with the African heritage in Brazil, with the perspective of indigenous ethnic groups, also the interaction with the sensitive memory of the country, of the process enslavement of people, the military dictatorship itself. That is, the heritage policy, in addition to being important for people to recognize themselves, is also about the future, because if we don’t bring this memory, we don’t see ourselves as a society and we can’t become a nation, society in an integrated way”, said Grass.

Still on the historical context of the heritage, the president of Iphan spoke about the restoration project of the Docas Pedro II building, in the port area of ​​Rio de Janeiro. The building will house the Interpretation Center of Cais do Valongo. “[O Docas Pedro II] it is the first building that was, according to reports, made with a non-slave workforce in Brazil, and that has served as this meeting point, for this convergence of African memory in the country”, he highlighted.

“It will be an interpretation center on African memory. So, possibly we will have a museum, also multipurpose areas. We have an archaeological collection there found in Valongo, ranging from stones, the structure, to personal objects of former enslaved people, our ancestors. So it is a very rich place that will help the Brazilian and international population to find information and knowledge about the African heritage in our country”, he added.

Cais do Valongo was built in 1811 for the landing and trade of enslaved Africans who were taken to coffee, tobacco and sugar plantations in the interior of the state of Rio de Janeiro and other regions of Brazil. According to Iphan, around one million enslaved Africans passed through Cais do Valongo in about 40 years. The archaeological site became part of the World Heritage List of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) in 2017.

coup act

According to the president of IPHAN, almost 80% of the works and assets that were vandalized during the anti-democratic and coup acts of January 8 have already been restored and recomposed, thanks to the work of IPHAN employees and technicians from the three damaged houses, the Planalto Palace, the National Congress Palace and the Federal Supreme Court Palace.

“There’s no point in us restoring, be it the building, the square, the works of art, if we don’t have an action to bring society closer. There is a desire by President Lula to promote a great plan of action for Praça dos Três Poderes with our country’s cultures, with regional identities, and we are participating in that, also the Democracy Memorial, which is a desire of the minister [da Cultura] margaret [Menezes] which is also being designed so that this does not happen again, because heritage education, memory, are ways to prevent these crimes in the future”, said Leandro Grass.

*With information from Agência Brasil

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