A coleção xangô: a cultura material afro-religiosa no Museu do Estado de Pernambuco.

Abstract

The present dissertation proposes to analyze the trajectory of the Xangô Collection of the State Museum of Pernambuco. For this, we will investigate the trajectory of this collection in the institution, seeking to know the preservation protocols and documentation of the colletion, such as: origin, entry, cataloging, exhibitions and restorations. We wish to understand the symbolic transformations that occur with the religious objects that were taken from their original context to integrate the collection of a museum. Concisely, we present the history of museums, their emergence and their expansion in Europe, as well as the first museums in Brazil and in Pernambuco. The study also analyzes in what scenario the first public policies for the preservation of the cultural heritage of Pernambuco emerged, leading to the creation of two institutions, in 1929, the State Inspection of National Monuments and the Historical Museum of Ancient Art of the State of Pernambuco. Later, this museum, would be called the Museum of the State of Pernambuco, in our study we also delineated the history of this institution that had the function of preserving the material assets of our patrimony. We went through the studies on Afro-descendant religiosity and the Orixás cult, highlighting police repression to the Afro-religious rituals of Recife in the 1930s, with the closing of countless terreiros, arrest of leaders and apprehension of sacred objects. Finally our study focuses its analysis on the history of the Ilu, techniques, materials, processes of sacralization, its use in the terreiros and its trajectory as museological object. With our analysis, we wish to provoke a reflection on some concepts and theories of the process of conservation and restoration by analyzing the interventions carried out on the object.