By Thiago Gabriel 
On January 18, 2025, Morro do Salgueiro, one of Rio de Janeiro’s oldest favelas and a true urban quilombo [territories of Afro-Brazilian resistance that date back to slavery], located in the neighborhood of Tijuca, in the city’s North Zone, inaugurated the Salgueiro Quilombo Social Museum at the Sal-Lage Institute headquarters. The museum’s mission is to shed light on the territory’s history, with its strong relation to quilombola struggle and community life, focusing on preserving the region’s tangible and intangible heritage.
Many groups active in the community attended the event, including the cultural group Caxambu do Salgueiro, the Morro do Salgueiro Residents’ Association, the Salgueiro Herb Growers Collective, and the community radio station Se Liga Salgueiro, among other local collectives. In addition, during the founding ceremony of the Quilombo do Salgueiro Museum, the Rio de Janeiro Social Museology Network (REMUS-RJ) held its 2025 inaugural meeting, bringing together other network members as well as representatives from social museums and favela museums across Rio de Janeiro.
The day’s program was extensive and began at 10am with breakfast at Caliel, an artisanal bakery that follows agroecological and solidarity kitchen principles. During this initial moment, participants gathered to enjoy a quality breakfast and share a space for connection, exchange, and reunion.
After breakfast, participants were invited to head to the Salgueiro Quilombo Social Museum for its inauguration and the REMUS-RJ meeting. Following an initial greeting, all 70 or so attendees introduced themselves, sharing where they were from and which favela or organization they represented. This organically showcased the diversity of people present, including attendees from Greater Rio’s Baixada Fluminense region, the city’s North, South, and West Zones, and the municipalities of São Gonçalo and Niterói.
Following this initial moment, Marcelo Paz Olajinmina, chef, quilombola, born and raised in Morro do Salgueiro, and vice-president of the community’s Caxambu group, thanked everyone for their presence and spoke about the importance of launching the museum in Salgueiro.
“I am deeply grateful for everyone’s presence here. We, from Morro do Salgueiro and its collectives, are very moved by everything that is happening. It’s been a dream of ours—to be part of a network that strengthens what Morro do Salgueiro already does and also allows our community to empower others, because this favela is a predominantly Black favela. Well, my name is Marcelo Paz Olajinmina. I was born and raised in Morro do Salgueiro in a traditionally quilombola family. I’m a chef and the current vice-president of Caxambu do Salgueiro. I’m also part of the herb growers’ collective here in Morro do Salgueiro, which is connected to the Ewe Ancestral Knowledge collective, focused on medicinal herbs, but in a liturgical sense… I’m very grateful for all of you being here. Right now, I’m here with you, but I’m also in the kitchen, preparing chicken with Ora-pro-nobis, a leaf that was picked right here in Morro do Salgueiro. This favela has a deep ancestral connection to medicinal herbs, to the knowledge that flows through plants and centenary trees. This is a quilombo—it existed as a quilombo even before the abolition of slavery, and many of the families who descend from those first inhabitants still live here today. We carry this tradition on to this day.” — Marcelo Paz Olajinmina
Following Olajinmina’s opening words, Emerson Menezes, a member of the Sal-Lage Institute and Caxambu do Salgueiro, gave a presentation contextualizing the historical process of the favela’s emergence and occupation. He also introduced the many collectives, movements, institutions, and organizations active in the community, all of which carry Salgueiro’s living memory.
“Morro do Salgueiro… in the late 19th century, was first settled by enslaved people who had escaped from the coffee farms of [nearby] Alto da Boa Vista. Initially, it was named Morro dos Trapicheiros [after the Trapicheiros River], becoming one of the city’s first urban quilombos. So, these origins date back to before the end of slavery, even before the arrival of Domingos Alves Salgueiro, who would later give the favela its name. Another significant wave of settlement took place in the early 20th century with the arrival of people from the interior of Rio de Janeiro state and other regions of Brazil’s Southeast, such as Minas Gerais. This century-old favela cultivates a rich cultural diversity… beyond samba and funk. It is home to traditions such as Catholic litanies, spiritual healers, Afro-Brazilian religious sites, folia de reis [a Catholic celebration where groups go door to door between Christmas and Epiphany, blessing homes in exchange for food or money as they reenact the journey of the Three Wise Men], maculelê [a traditional Afro-Brazilian dance and martial art], and charme dance parties [heavily influenced by American soul and R&B]. Not to mention the rodas [dancing and singing circles] that celebrate our Brazilian intangible cultural heritage: the Caxambu do Salgueiro. Even a brief history reveals the magnitude of this community, whose story is deeply intertwined with the country’s Afro-diasporic origins.” — Emerson Menezes
Among the examples of collectives, cultural groups, social enterprises, and public institutions in the area, Emerson cited the Caxambu do Salgueiro Cultural Group, the Residents’ Association, Firefighter Geraldo Dias Municipal School, Roots of Salgueiro Daycare, the Salgueiro Herb Growers Collective, the Hortas Cariocas (a City-managed community gardening program), the Jurema Batista Community Library, Se Liga Salgueiro Community Radio, the Roots of Tijuca Carnival Parade, Caliel Bakery, St. Sebastian Chapel, various Folia de Reis reception groups, and Afro-Brazilian religious sites, as well as community-based tourism initiatives.
After the hosts spoke, professor Mario Chagas, director of the Museum of the Republic and the Brazilian Institute of Museums (IBRAM), spoke about the importance of founding the Salgueiro Quilombo Museum.
“We are here today, on January 18, 2025, for the first meeting of the Rio de Janeiro Social Museology Network this year, and to our great joy, we are also taking part in the launch of the Salgueiro Quilombo Social Museum. It’s extraordinary news and a great achievement, really, to start our network’s meetings with this launch and this Social Museum. The museum is a recognition of a tradition, a heritage, a preexisting memory here in Morro do Salgueiro. It serves to consolidate, strengthen, and systematize all of this. Emerson’s presentation today was remarkable, extraordinary, showcasing the full power and cultural depth of Morro do Salgueiro, and this is very important. I am convinced that the launch of this museum in Morro do Salgueiro will make an important contribution to the area and the community, but it also plays a key role in strengthening the Social Museology Network itself. In fact, this is a movement that is growing stronger. I like to think of this museum as a seed museum—rooted in ancestrality, yet now bursting forth toward the future. And with that, it is also a museum that will bear new fruit, new seeds.” — Mario Chagas
The inaugural REMUS-RJ meeting took place after the museum’s launch, marking the beginning of the group’s activities in 2025. The meeting brought together professionals and representatives from various museums and social projects across the city. Among the highlights of this first annual gathering were: the announcement of Rio’s 2nd Social Museology Festival, set to begin on February 8 at the Rio Art Museum, the presentation of certificates to museums newly joining the network, and the reading of REMUS-RJ’s Letter of Principles.
In the middle of the day, the Caliel Bakery prepared and served a meal rooted in ancestral cuisine, featuring dishes such as free-range chicken with Ora-pro-nobis, one of many Unconventional Food Plants (UFPs) that are abundant in Salgueiro. The meal provided an immersive experience of the traditional flavors of Morro do Salgueiro’s quilombola culture. Born and raised in Morro do Salgueiro, Denise Santos—a member and second treasurer of Caxambu do Salgueiro, as well as an active participant in the Jurema Batista Library and the Salgueiro Herb Growers Collective—spoke about the importance of founding this social museum.
“It’s fundamental for us, as residents and as people working in the social field—whether in tourism or in preserving our local heritage. The Salgueiro Quilombo Social Museum will also play a key role in reclaiming our history. Many young people born and raised in Salgueiro don’t know the history of our community. There are many places in the community that are no longer as they were when we were kids. Today, they’ve changed, but we can still talk about what used to happen in those spaces. So being part of this network, which was created for open-air community museums, is very important to us. The memory is already there—the museum simply helps structure what already exists in the favela.” — Denise Santos
Denise Santos also touched on the importance of Caxambu as Brazilian intangible heritage, recognized by the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage (IPHAN):
“It’s important to talk about our Caxambu because we’ve worked to revive it. In the past, children weren’t allowed to participate—it was said that only adults could take part. With this revival, this reencounter, this new interpretation of Caxambu, we were able to include children and teenagers. Our Caxambu also didn’t have a fixed location. Today, it’s based at the Sal-Lage Cultural Space, but before, it took place in many different parts of the community. Many important figures shaped our Caxambu—people like Seu Geraldo and Aunt Guida. Our repertoire included many things that were happening in the community at the time… This is important to share with visitors, so that when they talk about Caxambu, they can understand its context within our community. That it wasn’t tied to just one place—it was diverse, happening throughout the community, whether during the [traditional] June Festivals or after Afro-Brazilian religious ceremonies. And after that, the joy of dancing with the Caxambu would begin.”
The afternoon continued with an enriching lesson on ancestrality, featuring two of Morro do Salgueiro’s cultural heritage treasures: a workshop with the Salgueiro Herb Growers Collective and a session with Caxambu do Salgueiro.
The Salgueiro Herb Growers Collective led a workshop where participants shared knowledge about the use of herbs in traditional and folk medicine. Silvania da Silva, who was raised in Morro do Salgueiro and is the granddaughter of herb growers, spoke about the collective’s importance.
“I was raised here in Morro do Salgueiro. As we’ve been discussing for some time now, the Salgueiro Herb Growers Collective is 100% ancestral. Here, we are heirs, grandchildren, children… I’m very proud to have been raised here, with my grandfather who sang Catholic litanies. Today, I am here to remind everyone: emotional memory is very important to me. Being raised by my grandmother, with the values she passed down to me, and now reclaiming that memory, working to keep our tradition alive. So, I congratulate all of us, because our group is carrying on and growing stronger. It’s an honor to be a part of this. It’s an honor to be here with all of you. It’s an honor to carry our banner forward, helping it evolve and flourish.” — Silvania da Silva
Caxambu do Salgueiro brought a Jongo performance, showcasing a major Afro-diasporic cultural heritage of Brazil and the Salgueiro community. The presentation included an explanation of how the drums “talk” to each other, the umbigada dance steps, and the salutations to the drums that mark the beginning and end of a Caxambu circle. At the end, everyone was invited to join the circle and experience the ancestrality of Salgueiro’s cultural resistance.
The day’s activities concluded with a walk through Salgueiro, allowing participants to experience the area’s cultural, social, and historical spaces up close. Some of these were mentioned in Emerson Menezes’ presentation, such as the St. Sebastian Chapel, from which the traditional procession honoring the patron saint of both Rio de Janeiro and Morro do Salgueiro departs.
The walk also highlighted historical structures, such as the plantation containment walls built by enslaved people and several century-old buildings, including the Firefighter Geraldo Dias Municipal School, founded in 1919, and the Goulart stone mansion, one of Salgueiro’s oldest constructions. The Salgueiro Quilombo Social Museum aims to have it recognized as historic heritage and hopes that, in the future, it can be revitalized and transformed into a space for all the favela’s groups and collectives.
Check out the photo album by Bárbara Dias on Flickr:
About the author: Bárbara Dias was born and raised in Bangu, in Rio’s West Zone. She has a degree in Biological Sciences, a master’s in Environmental Education, and has been a public school teacher since 2006. She is a photojournalist and also works with documentary photography. She is a popular communicator for Núcleo Piratininga de Comunicação (NPC) and co-founder of Coletivo Fotoguerrilha.