Rio de Janeiro will soon have its own museum dedicated to Brazil’s Olympic history. Following an agreement signed on Friday (29) by the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB), the museum will be built on the Ilha de Pombeba in Barra da Tijuca, just behind the Athletes’ Village in Rio’s West Zone. The area will also be the site of the new headquarters of the COB.

“To be able to build an Olympic Museum in the city of Rio de Janeiro is a great joy,” Luiz Fernando Pezão, the governor of Rio de Janeiro state, said. “I am certain that this will become one of the main tourist attractions in the city.”

In 2013, photos, medals, torches and uniforms of Olympic Games past travelled to Rio de Janeiro for an exhibition of some of the items from the International Olympic Committee’s museum. Based at the IOC’s headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, the museum brings together more than 10,000 pieces related to the history of the Olympic Movement.

Speaking about the new project, Carlos Arthur Nuzman, the president of both the COB and the Rio 2016 Committee, said the museum will be an important legacy for the city. “The whole story of the Rio 2016 Games will stay in the Olympic Museum for future generations,” he said.

Committee president meets members of congress

After signing the deeds to the land where the museum will be built, Nuzman held a meeting with the president of the chamber of deputies, Eduardo Cunha, and other members of congress from Rio, to update them on the progress of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Members of the Rio 2016 committee, along with the mayor of Rio, Eduardo Paes, and the state governor, Luiz Fernando Pezão, presented the congressional representatives with various requests to ensure the city has the necessary legislation to put on the event. In particular, the committee is looking for changes in the law regarding broadcasting and advertising rights as well as the transfer of some civil servants to help with the operation of the Games.  

Eduardo Cunha, the president of the chamber of congress, said that he and his colleagues would study the proposals carefully. “There are a series of measures that are necessary, some of which have already become law, and others which could become law,” he said.

The integration of the Rio 2016 Committee with the three levels of government has been a recurring theme for the organisers of the first Olympic and Paralympic Games in South America. Recently, President Dilma Rousseff came to the Organizing Committee headquarters to underline the federal government’s commitment to the success of the Games.