O Museu do Índio (English: The Museum of the Indian) is a cultural and scientific agency of the Fundação Nacional do Índio (English: National Foundation of the Indian) or FUNAI. It was created by Darcy Ribeiro, in the city of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil in 1953. As the only official institution in Brazil exclusively dedicated to indigenous cultures (the people known as povos indígenas in Portuguese), the museum has the objective of promoting an accurate image of them, both traditional and modern, while helping to avoid common misconceptions of these societies.
In 1978, the museum was moved to a mansion built in the era of the 1880s, in the Maracanã section of the Botafogo district. It had been originally constructed for João Rodrigues Teixeira, an entrepreneur involved in the burgeoning early industries of Rio De Janeiro. Constructed for Teixeita as his family residence, the mansion house was later acquired by the Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional or IPHAN (English: National Institute of Historic and Artistic Sites). The architectural style of its construction is quite representative of this period of growth within Maracanã.
The rich heritage of the museum, which includes most of the unified indigenous societies, is composed of 14,000 ethnography parts. In the Marechal Rondon Library, 16,000 national and foreign publications specialized in ethnology and other related areas, plus 50,000 images in diverse environments, including 3,000 digital photographs on CD-ROM, about 200 films, videos, and sound recordings, as well as 500,000 documents of historical value relating to various indigenous groups and their political situation in Brazil from the end of 19th century to the present.
In the eleven rooms of the main building, the Museu do Índio organizes the temporary showing of samples of paintings and photos from those stored in its reserves. In the gardens of the institution there are five different environments, including a Guarani fazenda, a Xingu kitchen and ritual house for the Quarup (also spelled "Kuarup").
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Sociedade Amigos do Museu do Índio (SAMI) is a nonprofit organization with the objective of bringing the museum together with the public. SAMI develops projects which originate from the Brazilian indigenous cultures. It makes acquisitions of artifacts and preserves the indigenous traditions and promotes educational courses, seminaries, and other cultural events. SAMI accepts new membership from the general public as well as monetary donations for scientific and cultural programs, ideas, suggestions and volunteers.
The Loja Artíndia of the museum is one of the seven Artíndia Stores of FUNAI, which are maintained by the Artíndia Program. In these stores, arts and crafts acquired directly from the indigenous communities are sold. This guarantees these communities a source of revenue, and stimulates them to maintain their standard of culture. In addition, the store sells thematic books, T-shirts, CDs and CD-ROMs.
The museum is located at Rua das Palmeiras, 55, in the district of Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. There is no parking for visitors, as this is reserved for employees, SAMI members, volunteers and maintenance. Hours are Tuesday to Friday 9:00 am to 5:30 pm, (closed Mondays except for school groups); Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays from 1 pm to 5pm (exhibit areas and art store only, as the library and other research areas are closed on weekends).