Brazil: Valongo dock in Rio to have a museum

The project to revitalize the space should be released this month

Agência Brasil*

Published on 10/03/2023 - 13:33

Rio de Janeiro

Cais do Valongo, na regioão central da cidade (tomaz Silva/Agência Brasil) — © Agência Brasil/Tomaz Silva

Valongo dock, a former slave port in Rio de Janeiro and world heritage site since 2017, will have its participatory management committee back, which had been extinguished in 2019. Yesterday (Mar. 9), authorities visited the wharf.

The delegation, formed by ministers of Racial Equality Anielle Franco, and Culture Margareth Menezes, as well as the head of the National Economic and Social Development Bank (BNDES) Aloizio Mercadante, and First Lady Janja Lula da Silva reaffirmed the commitment to build a museum on the site.

"We are here in this historical place to reaffirm our commitment to the black people, to their memory and reparation," Minister Anielle Franco said.

Valongo dock was unveiled in 2011, during the revitalization works of the port area. At the time of slavery, more than a million slaves from Africa disembarked in Brazil through what has become the largest slaves receiving port in the world, according to Brazil’s Institute of National Historical and Artistic Heritage (Iphan).

*With information from TV Brasil.