University of São Paulo: Works on the monument building of the Ipiranga Museum are already 80% complete
The restoration work on the monument building of the Ipiranga Museum is 80% complete, with a schedule on schedule for the reopening scheduled for September 2022. The information was transmitted by the Management Committee of the New Museum of Ipiranga to representatives of the companies and institutions that sponsor the project, during an online meeting held on January 21st. This was the eighth meeting of the group, which has been meeting systematically since November 2019 to share updated data on the venture.
The work is carried out on two major fronts: expansion and restoration of the monument-building. As part of the expansion, an excavation was carried out in front of the building, which will house the new entrance, ticket office, auditorium for 200 people, educational space, café, shop and temporary exhibition room. As part of the restoration, repairs are being carried out on all the details of the refined architecture, including the façade, interiors and joinery elements, such as doors and jambs.
Now in January, the restoration of the Portuguese mosaic floors in the external area of the museum that makes up the slab of the esplanade began. In parallel, the installation of one of the two escalators that connect the new building to the monument-building is being carried out. This stage is expected to be completed by the beginning of February.
In the Ampliação building, the auditorium floor gains a metallic support structure for the seats, while in the historic building, the first finished rooms begin to receive, in a process concomitant with the work, the museographic structures that will receive the visual communication and the collection of the new exhibitions. – one temporary and 11 permanent – which will be equipped with multimedia equipment for immersion, interactivity and accessibility.
When reopened, the New Museum of Ipiranga will have doubled its total built area and modernized the space with elevators, escalators and an air conditioning system. The cost of the renovation is estimated at R$ 211 million.
sponsoring companies
The works of the New Museum of Ipiranga are financed through the Cultural Incentive Law and have as sponsors and partners: BNDES, Fundação Banco do Brasil, Vale, Bradesco, Caterpillar, Comgás, CSN, EDP, EMS, Itaú, Sabesp, Santander, Banco Safra, Honda, Raízen, Postos Ipiranga, Pinheiro Neto Advogados, Atlas Schindler, Novelis, B3, GHT, Nortel and Dimensional, Goldman Sachs, Rede D’Or and Too Seguros.
In addition to the approximately 50 representatives of the sponsoring companies, the governor João Doria; the state secretary of Culture and Creative Economy, Sérgio de Sá Leitão; the dean of USP, Vahan Agopyan; the new rector of the University, Carlos Gilberto Carlotti Junior, who will assume the position on January 25th; the secretary general of the University, Pedro Vitoriano de Oliveira; the museum’s director, Rosária Ono; as well as other USP directors.
The Ipiranga Museum was closed to the public in 2013 and is expected to reopen, completely renovated and expanded, for the celebration of the bicentennial of the Independence of Brazil, in September.
The project for the New Museum of Ipiranga also includes the French Garden, located in front of the monument building. Estimated at R$ 19 million and funded by the State Government, the proposal provides for the restoration of the entire built-up area and landscaping, in addition to the renovation of the space of the former administration for the installation of a restaurant, creation of infrastructure for food bikes , restoration and modernization of public lighting, requalification of access roads, also including accessibility equipment, and the reactivation of the central source.
Homage
On January 20, the museum’s directors paid tribute to the rector Vahan Agopyan. “We are here to thank the professor for his dedication to the project, which would not have been possible without his institutional and personal support, as well as that of the entire Rectory team”, said the director of the museum, Rosário Ono.
“This is the result of the excellence of the teams we have at the museum and at the University. It is a sum of the work of dozens of colleagues, who assumed to overcome this challenge. Transforming this institution into a 21st century museum, of which Brazilian society is proud, is a great challenge that deserves and needs to be supported”, said the dean.
The tribute was attended by vice-rector Antonio Carlos Hernandes; the Dean of Culture and University Extension, Maria Aparecida de Andrade Moreira Machado; the superintendent of the University’s Physical Space, Francisco Ferreira Cardoso; the museum’s deputy director, Amâncio Jorge de Oliveira; the executive director of the University of São Paulo Support Foundation (Fusp), Antonio Vargas de Oliveira Figueira; the Institutional Relations Superintendent, Ignácio Maria Poveda Velasco; the secretary general Pedro Vitoriano de Oliveira; and the deputy director of the Deliberative Council of the Museu Paulista, Vânia Carneiro de Carvalho.