Museums in RS still calculate damage after rain; see photos

To the least six institutions public art and heritage conservation were affected by storms and floods of recent weeks in the central region of Porto Alegre capital of Rio Grande do Sul . The state government and city hall are still calculating the damage.

“In principle, the important works were preserved, but the real effects of the flood will only be identified when the river level rises. [Guaíba] to go down. But it went up again”, said the communications manager at the State Department of Culture, Camila Diesel.

In some cases, as in the Rio Grande do Sul Memorial O The advance of the water was so strong that it covered almost the entire ground floor reached the chest height of an adult .

Most of the collections were transported to upper floors of the institutions' buildings, according to the government, shortly after the first warnings of strong storms were issued.

“Already we had been moving works and taking preventive measures in the previous days and this work became more intense from the historic flood forecast “, says Francisco Dalcol, director-curator of Rio Grande do Sul Art Museum (MARGS) .

One of the alerts indicated that the worst case scenario would be the flooding of Praça da Alfândega, where the institution is located (see the square's garden in the photos above).

“The operation of removing works of art is difficult and time-consuming but we set up an emergency task force, which worked until the last possible minute and managed to get the pieces to the upper floors before the water reached the square.”

The work had the expected effect, as all the relocated works were preserved and remain safe on the upper floors, according to Dalcol, who carried out an in-person inspection last Sunday (12).

The task force was also carried out in other institutions administered by the state, but the same did not happen in those under the care of the city hall.

So far, municipal authorities have not yet been able to reach, for example, the Porto Alegre Joaquim Felizardo Museum according to the communications department.

There is no indication of the condition of the building or the works it housed. There is also no estimate of how much recovering the equipment will cost public coffers.

A Mario Quintana House of Culture (CCMQ), was also affected. Despite the preservation of administrative areas, exhibition galleries and the collection, commercial establishments in the locality suffered extensive damage.

At Tavern bookstore, O custom-made furniture could not be moved but part of the book collection was increased. Even so, they are suffering from the effects of humidity . Also at street level, the Andaime store, Luciamaria Cafés de Origem and Térreo Bar e Restaurante were damaged.

This was the first time that CCMQ was affected by flooding. “It is still early to assess the damage, but we are alert and mobilized to think about lines of reconstruction and support for this network of people affected by the closure of the House”, says Germana Konrath, director of the space.

The parking lot at the Multipalco Complex São Pedro theater recorded accumulation of water. Without electricity, the third level of the parking lot, which normally has drainage pumps, accumulated around 60 centimeters of water.

The complex's administration team used generators in the last two days to prevent the problem from progressing. With the restoration of electricity in the city center, the pumps began operating again and the accumulation of water was controlled.

Among institutions in other municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul, the most serious case is that of State Coal Museum where The entire collection of documents that were wet was taken to the freezer of a refrigerator.

In total, 450 municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul (more than 90%) were impacted by the floods and are suffering from the consequences, according to a Civil Defense report released on Monday (13).