A devastating fire broke out on Sunday evening in Brazil and destroyed the 200-year old National Museum in Rio de Janeiro, which houses important artefacts from Egypt and is the oldest scientific institution in the country. The cause of the blaze is still unknown, and no injuries have been reported. Roberto Robaday, Rio’s fire chief, told the Associated Press that the two nearest hydrants had no supplies, so water from a nearby lake was used to extinguish the fire. He said that, by Monday morning, the fire was under control and some of the museum’s pieces have been rescued, yet they are still not identified. “It is a sad day for all Brazilians,” President Michel Temer said in a tweet, “two hundred years of work, investigation, and knowledge have been lost”. The museum’s collection contains 20 million items from around the world that could have been lost, including more than 700 important artefacts from ancient Egypt. The collection began at the hands of the founder and the first ruler of the Empire of Brazil, Dom Pedro I. One of the most important pieces in the ancient Egyptian collection is the…
