MUSEUMS AND RELIGIOUS COLLECTIVE MEMORIES IN BRAZIL

WHAT DOES THE NATIONAL REGISTER OF MUSEUMS TELL US?

Abstract

Museums are privileged spaces for communication in contemporary society, being able to problematize the most diverse themes and social issues. Religions, religious experiences and cultural frameworks are no exception, being present in Brazilian museums through the most diverse narratives and communication strategies. However, the scarcity of studies that address the museum-religion relationship from a more systemic perspective draws attention in the academic bibliography. Thus, this article presents an exploratory study about Brazilian museums that address religious themes, based on data made available by the National Registry of Museums, available on the MuseusBR Platform, maintained by the Brazilian Institute of Museums, and one of the main information bases for policies public museums in Brazil. The methodology adopted is of a quali-quanti nature, considering that the main data made available by the MuseusBR Platform are of a quantitative nature, however, the analyses, due to their exploratory nature, are of a qualitative nature, focusing on the description of religious matrices, institutional profiles and cultural reference tables present in museums registered on the aforementioned Platform. It is concluded that the most represented religious matrices are Christian, followed by Afro-Brazilian, however, the most relevant aspect of the study concerns the analysis of collective cultural frameworks – mostly Catholic – that are represented in art and historical museums.