The fire is in the past. The Portuguese Language Museum is currently full of promises for the future.
Heloisa’s parents knew the place before she was born. They returned this Saturday (30th), a year after reopening.
“We were interested in that too, right? Because it’s been a year and we wanted to see what it’s like after what happened,” says teacher Bárbara Monteiro Xavier.
“She discovers new words, a bit of history of the language, of the Portuguese language, of speaking, of writing… It’s a very meaningful learning experience for her that makes the difference,” says Civil Servant Edgar Xaver Neto.
The reconstruction of the Portuguese Language Museum was carried out by the Ministry of Tourism and the Government of São Paulo, designed and implemented by the Roberto Marinho Foundation. Its main sponsor was EDP and as sponsors Grupo Globo, the Itaú Unibanco Group and Sabesp all through the Federal Cultural Promotion Act. It’s a nonstandard museum. The collection is accessible to the public, although the “words” are the stars of the collection.
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“When we imagine a Portuguesespeaking museum, we imagine, I don’t know, an old library with a lot of books, and it’s exactly the opposite. It’s totally visual and interactive,” says businesswoman Alauana Montani.
“This new Portuguese language museum has this proposal to make people navigate the Portuguese language through a very interesting sensory experience. It is an invitation to the person, to the public, to visit the Portuguese language in this way,” says Frederico Mascarenhas, chief of staff at the Ministry of Culture and Creative Industries of the State of São Paulo.
The Portuguese language is a language in motion. This means it is constantly changing. Time goes by, customs change, people come and go, and the way of expressing yourself with words does not stand still in time.
Like a train, with small stops where passengers can board. The baggage they bring contributes to change. It is even symbolic that the address of the Portuguese Language Museum is the Luz train station, a place that can be seen from the terrace after the reopening.
“We’re using Estação da Luz, right? So we always go through here and never go in. And today we decided to participate and it’s very cool that things are getting so mixed up,” says civil engineer Luiza Costa de Azevedo.
They mix like so many accents in a showroom.
“It was only after it reopened that we were able to open it to the public, and it’s a delicious part as you can hear the ‘stories’, hear the jokes and even celebrate this diversity of the Portuguese language spoken in Brazil. (…) Listen and pick up a little bit (accents) because you listen a lot and soon you pick up the accent, it’s really fun,” says Technical Director of the Portuguese Language Museum, Marília Bonas.
“I love it, this is really good! I never thought it would be so cool,” says little Maria Luiza de Almeida Costa, 9 years old.