Cities museums and the process of interpretation of the memory of urban centers.

Abstract

Cities Museums are gaining great prominence within the global cultural landscape. Many of them, worldwide, are restructuring itself to fit the new urban realities. In 2005, the relevance of these museums, led to the creation of a specific Committee of ICOM facing the Collections and Activities of Museums of Cities (CAMOC). But what would be, specifically, the mission of a City Museum? This work confronts update thoughts of experts on the issue with the current situation in the context of the city of Rio de Janeiro, moment of great clash of otherness and construction of symbolic boundaries between different social groups within urban centers. The symbolic perception of the city is equivalent to a large extent, the perception of the concept of "museality" understood as an established relationship between man, time, space and memory, according to a worldview and values inherent to the specific of each culture. The Historical Museum of the City of Rio de Janeiro, Gávea, that remains closed and that holds an amazing collection about the city, has the potential to become a place of permanent forum which would help to interpret and guide cultural development that gives shape and meaning to the Carioca culture.