After around 30 minutes, I got to Pasteur Avenue, the main avenue in Urca; I followed this street until I reached the General Tiburcio Square and then I went to the Museu de Ciências da Terra – a direct translation would be Museum of Earth Sciences. Definitely, it is a very poor museum, I don’t even have much to say about it.
As I arrived there, I was told that the visit could only be taken with the museum guide – initially, I thought that was great, a free guided tour! While I was waiting, 3 teenagers girls appeared, and soon after that, the guide came and the tour began. However, right in the beginning, I discovered that the visit would not meet my expectations: the guide showed a dinosaur skeleton in the first room, in the exhibition Dinosaurs Triangle (with a collection of fossil vertebrates found in the Triângulo Mineiro), and I made a silly question - "when they had found that skeleton?”. And she answered that she didn’t know, she would get the information with another guide that knows more about that part of the museum – this made me think that the museum should be huge.
Then we went to the next room and getting there, her explanation was minimal and added nothing to what was written in the displays of the exhibition . The second room had an exhibition about Llewellyn Ivor Price, one of the greatest paleontologists of DNPM. I thought it was boring because, since the guide was following the girls and they were not reading any information displayed there, I felt kind of obliged to look at things at a glance - if I tried to read, I would end up falling behind or holding the guide and the girls.
Afterwards, we went to an exhibition that should be great for school tours, called ‘In the Time of the Dinosaurs’: it is a collection of vertebrate fossils that lived in Brazil. Unfortunately, the guide did not give me enough time to calmly see the exhibition - she was already walking in front, with the girls. So I felt compelled to step up the pace.
And finally, passing through a corridor, I saw some rocks and a little exhibition of small amounts of oil that exist in different wells of Petrobras. Then, we went to a hall full of stones of many different types and she took us to the exit.
I honestly got the feeling that it would have been better if they had let me walk by myself, perhaps just putting one guide in each room. The guided tour did not add anything positive, it just rushed me to see things unhappily. At least they could explain in English what is displayed in Portuguese - that would help foreigners. So if you don’t know any Portuguese, don’t go there, it will be a waste of your time.
Kisses,
Tati.
Registration Form:
Site: Museu de Ciências da Terra
Visit’s Date: 05/02/2014
Adress: Avenida Pasteur, 404, Urca.
Telephone: (21) 2295-7596 / 2295-4896
Directions: Using the subway, just get off at Botafogo station and take the subway express bus to Urca, or any bus that passes by Avenida Pasteur – there are many options, click here to find out more: english or spanish
Working Hours: Tuesday to friday, from 10am to 4pm; closed on Mondays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Guided Tour: every visit is guided; when you get there, a guide will be assigned to you.
Entry Price: Free.
Toilets/drink water fountains: there are toilets and a drink water fountain.
Cafe/Restaurant/Convenience Store: None.
Accessibility: none - it is an old building with stairs in the entrance.
Audio guide: none.
Lockers and space for stroller: none.
Recommended duration of stay: About 30 minutes.
Parking: at General Tibúrcio Square (but in this case, you will have to walk about 10 minutes to get there)
Camera: You can take pictures without flash.
Air Conditioning: none, but you can survive.
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