Conde de Linhares Military Museum

While visiting a military museum may not be everyone's cup of tea when on holiday in Brazil, especially with so many sandy white beaches to laze on and other places of interest to visit from a cultural perspective, if military interests you then you should go.

The museum has an impressive collection of all things military, including military instruments, military uniforms, weaponry, equipment used for the purposes of communication, instruments used for medical operations and transportation such as tanks.

The museum is home to one of the surviving Renault FT tanks that were shipped from France back in 1920. Only 12 of these tanks were made and only five were fitted with an octagonal tower, 7mm Hotchkiss machine gun.

The purpose of the Conde de Linhares Military Museum is to safeguard, preserve and disseminate the memory of the Brazilian army. The governing body of the museum is the Ministry of the Army, so essentially the museum is a federal public institution.

When you enter the museum you will be led through five exhibitions that tell the story of the modernized Brazilian Army. Each exhibition tells a part of the story of the military and as you move through the exhibition you come to learn about the formation of the army, then how the army was consolidated and then how it was modernized.

Those who lost their lives during the war are commemorated at the museum by way of showcasing the personal objects of some of the combatants. There are also portraits, photographs and sculptures in their honou. Seeing the personal items of those who lost their lives on display helps visitors to connect more to the story. These were real people who lead lives, had families and bravely went to fight at war with many of them dying in the most tragic ways. One can only feel a sense of reverence when looking at their personal belongings.

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