Brazilians work to restore relics damaged in Congress riot

A doll, porcelain pottery and a silver dagger encrusted with red jewels pepper the tables where restoration efforts are under way at the Chamber of Deputies, waiting to be tended to. Supporters of Brazilian far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro invaded and defaced the country's Congress, presidential palace and Supreme Court on Jan. 8.

A restorer in Brazil's capital gently scrapes off dirt from an ornate vase, just one of the relics damaged earlier this month when right-wing rioters stormed the country's most important institutional headquarters. A doll, porcelain pottery and a silver dagger encrusted with red jewels pepper the tables where restoration efforts are under way at the Chamber of Deputies, waiting to be tended to.

Supporters of Brazilian far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro invaded and defaced the country's Congress, presidential palace and Supreme Court on Jan. 8. Rioters threw furniture through the smashed windows of the presidential palace, flooded parts of Congress with a sprinkler system, and ransacked ceremonial rooms in the Supreme Court.

Many of the items damaged are ceremonial gifts brought by world leaders during official visits. Fortunately, the damage was mostly limited, said Marcelo Sa, director of the Chamber Museum, though at least one piece, an ostrich egg from Sudan, was too damaged to even attempt to restore.

As soon as Sa's team was able to enter the buildings, they collected whatever they could to put some of the relics back together. "In a certain way the impact is incalculable, these assets represent and carry with them the history of our parliament," said Sa. "Assets inside the (presidential) palace are the history of Brazilian art itself, the history of Brazil."

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