It began with the disappointed stare I pointed at the picture of a funerary urn my daily art app had loaded up. Like a normal human, I didn't recognize it as a funerary urn and turned to my friend to show her my disgust. "This app just keeps showing me old vases," I complained. "Just look at this," I pointed to the word "unknown" in blue letters under the image, "they don't even know who did it!" My friend laughed at my being over the top and I scoured the description for more material to pull apart. Then, to my horror, I read about the blaze that engulfed Brazil's Museu Nacional in Rio De Janeiro. Over 20 million pre-colonial artifacts---integral to anthropologists and preservers of native Brazilian traditions alike---potentially erased forever. The description explained the funerary urn to be in reverence to the event and that that urn, in particular, had been apart of the Museu's collection.

The following morning, while I was on the treadmill, I watched reporters name drop important artifacts like the Luzia skull (12,000 years old and "one of the oldest skulls in the Americas," mind you) and The Bendegó meteorite (the largest meteorite to date). Thus, the gravity of the tragedy increased in my mind---but to those of Brazil, this tragic event was further proof of the apparent cultural and scientific damnation the country has been experiencing.

Chances are, you heard that the museum caught fire while it was closed, but you probably haven't been informed of the tear-gas that was tossed into crowds of protesters as the flames were still roaring. According to an article on Science Magazine's website, several scientists had figured it only a matter of time before the museum caught fire as long ago as 2004. The museum has been reported as lacking a sprinkler system and, although officials say that they are investigating further into the cause of the fire, most assume the cause to be the faulty wiring that had also been a strikingly apparent threat for over a decade.

Because of economic strife and subsequent political corruption, Brazil's government has been cutting its funding to cultural and scientific programs. Hence the protestors snapping to attention at the fire---they want this cultural devastation to end. But as groups of protesters dissolve and signs displaying vitriolic lines fade back into basements, it doesn't appear that much in terms of attention to culture and its funding by Brazil's government will change.

In a time where our own politicians value degrees in business over arguably equally as important higher educations in the arts and sciences, it's just as terrifying to consider that a similar future could await the Smithsonian if opinions like these continue to be taken as fact. Let this fire not only be held in reverence by the global community but also in fear that a cultural neglect may begin to rot at our respective histories as well. Not only a tragedy, this fire is a warning to be gravely acknowledged.