BRAZIL INAUGURATES WORLD'S FIRST FULLY DEDICATED LANGUAGE MUSEUM
22 March 2006

Brazil has launched the world's first museum devoted solely to the history and evolution of a language: Portuguese, the national language since the colonial era and independence. The museum is located in the Station of Light, a train facility built by the British at the turn of the 20th century, and a national architectural landmark.

The train company CPTM, which uses only the lower levels of the building, is one of the owners of the station. Its director, after a trip to Portugal, reportedly suggested a Portuguese culture museum for the facility to the São Paulo Secretariate of Culture. The Globo media conglomerate was asked to participate, and accepted, with the suggestion from its Roberto Marinho Foundation that the museum be devoted to the Portuguese language.

The state of São Paulo, the largest in the country, agreed to fund the project in part, in cooperation with an array of public and private funding partners, viewing it as an important tribute to the cultural legacy of the language, and a means of enhancing and sustaining the city's architectural and cultural heritage, represented by the Station of Light.

There are several display galleries, featuring "influences", "timeline", and the language's entire literary tradition. The gallery devoted to literature includes an anthology representing all major influences and authors contributing to the literary evolution of the language which has now come to be a unique heritage, Brazilian Portuguese. [s]

• El País: "Brasil abre el primer museo del mundo dedicado en exclusiva a una lengua"

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