CULTURAL CENTER JOÃO FONA

REFLECTIONS ON THE “SANTARÉM MUSEUM”

Abstract

This article aims to highlight the João Fona Cultural Center – CCJF, as a built cultural heritage of Santarém, Pará, as well as update information about it, one of the oldest buildings in the city, known as the “Santarém Museum”. Dating from the second half of the 19th century, a time when significant buildings were built in the city, such as the Teatro Vitória, the Solar do Barão de Santarém and the Solar dos Campos. The CCJF was initially designed to host the City Council, however, it has already been used as an Intendency, Public Prison, Jury Court, City Hall, Tourism Coordination, Culture Secretariat, and, from 2011, it started to function as the CCJF. Among the eleven rooms that make it up, there is a rich and valuable collection of Tapajó or Santarém ceramics, fragments of the same ceramics, canvases, period furniture, temporary and permanent exhibitions, the skeleton of a Minke whale and utensils used to torture and whip black people enslaved during colonial times. The lack of bibliographic sources was one of the negative points highlighted in the preparation of this study, therefore, the contribution involving researchers in the areas of tourism, architecture, conservation and restoration signal new possibilities and advances for updated and interdisciplinary studies on the CCJF. The methodology used was bibliographic and documentary research, non-participant observation and unstructured interviews.