Rio Botanical Garden celebrates World Photography Day with a special visit to the Museum and historical collection

On World Photography Day, celebrated on August 19, the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden will host a special tour of the Museum and the institution's Collection and Memory. The program, which will take place every two months, combines a guided tour of the Botanical Garden Museum's exhibition spaces with a guided tour of the Collection and Memory Warehouse, presenting to the public historical and cultural pieces that are part of the Garden's more than 200-year history. The activity is free and takes place from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

The debut edition will have World Photography Day as its theme, highlighting installations composed of images present in the Museum's exhibitions, such as “Garden of Stories.” Afterwards, visitors will tour some of the Acervo e Memória installations, learning about part of the Botanical Garden's historical photographic collection, which includes albums, rare photographs, glass and flexible negatives, as well as antique cameras.

The itinerary also includes scientific instruments, documents by renowned botanists such as João Geraldo Kuhlmann and Graziela Maciel Barroso, paintings, medals, and archaeological objects. Among the highlights is a travel camera manufactured in the early 20th century by German Curt Bentzin, accompanied by a tripod and glass negative holder. The equipment is representative of the period of technological transition in photography, when scientific documentation still depended on photographic processes on glass plates.

For the head of the Botanical Garden's Museum and Collection Division, Raul Ribeiro, historical photography is more than just a record.

“By integrating visual discourse with scientific discourse, the images in the Garden's Collection and Memory helped to construct narratives that legitimized the knowledge produced at the institution. They were structural to the process of institutionalizing botany in the country and reveal how the image became established as a tool for scientific dissemination and preservation of memory,” he says.

The Museum and Collection Division plays a strategic role in preserving and promoting the institutional memory of the Rio Botanical Garden, housing items that bear witness to the institution's bicentennial history and its impact on botany, scientific research, and environmental conservation.

The free guided tour will begin at 2 p.m. Fifteen spots will be available, filled on a first-come, first-served basis. The meeting point will be the Reception Room of the Botanical Garden Museum.

Service
Visit to the Museum, Collection, and Memory of the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden
Date: Tuesday, August 19
Time: 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Location: Botanical Garden Museum and Collection and Memory Warehouse
Meeting point: Museum Reception Room
Audience: general public
Spaces: 15 (first come, first served)
Admission: free

Rua Jardim Botânico, 1008