Artifacts and Fossils Lost in Brazil’s Museum Fire

CAIRO, EGYPT—Ahram Online reports that as many as 700 ancient Egyptian artifacts were destroyed in the fire that engulfed the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro earlier this week. The 200-year-old building was constructed as a palace for the country’s ruling family. The Egyptian artifacts in the museum’s collection included objects collected by Pedro I, who became the first emperor of Brazil in 1822, and an ancient mummy given to his son, Pedro II, by Ismail Pasha, the Khedive of Egypt. The skull of a woman who lived in Brazil some 11,500 years ago, known as the Luzia fossil, and objects representing South America’s cultural heritage, such as items of feather work and masks, are also believed to have been lost to the flames. To read about excavations in Rio de Janeiro, go to “Off the Grid.”