But the prospect of a new museum rising from the ashes has sparked a debate about whether the institution can, or even should, be reconstructed. International experts warn there are limits to any such effort, emphasizing the inescapable loss of original, irreplaceable objects, while some in Brazil question the rush to rebuild before the wholesale neglect of the museum has been examined. The Institute for Digital Archaeology, which has reconstructed lost cultural objects, is offering to build up to five at no charge. "I would not try to hide, to erase this event, pretending that nothing happened and trying to put a modern building there, a digital museum, an internet museum," he told the Portuguese daily Publico. The debate about how to preserve or rebuild museums is only likely to increase as threats to cultural sites grow, from climate change, tourism and extremists.

Source: ABC News September 30, 2018 03:56 UTC