'It is a cultural tragedy': Flames engulf the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro as dozens of firefighters battle to save priceless relics from the 200-year-old building

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A huge fire ravaged Brazil's 200-year-old National Museum Sunday night, destroying most of its collection of 20 million historical items and invaluable artefacts.

Firefighters worked to put out the blaze at the esteemed National Museum in Rio de Janeiro overnight, which houses artifacts from Egypt, Greco-Roman art and some of the first fossils found in Brazil.

There is no word yet of the possible cause, nor the exact extent of damage, however a Roman fresco which survived Pompeii is believed to be among the items destroyed in the fire. 

Yet even before the embers had begun to cool early Monday, grief over the huge cultural loss had given way to anger at across-the-board budget cuts threatening Brazil's multi-cultural heritage.  

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Before and after: A huge fire ravaged Brazil's 200-year-old National Museum (pictured right in 2013) Sunday night, destroying most of its collection of 20 million historical items and invaluable artefacts

People (pictured) have been protesting in front of the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro after a fire occurred at the 200-year-old building 

The museum's destruction caused a social media outcry and students and researchers gathered to demonstrate outside its still-smoldering remains

Demonstrators face the municipal guard of Rio de Janeiro during a rally in front of the National Museum of Rio de Janeiro

A demonstrator is helped by municipal policemen during a protest in front of the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro

Incalculable damage: Firefighters were still working to put the fire out as the sun rose over Rio de Janeiro this morning

Devastating: There is no word yet of the possible cause, nor the exact extent of damage, however these images show rooms in the building completely destroyed by the fire

What remains: Footage shows the damage done by the flames overnight 

Heartbreaking: This image shows the fire raging in the historical building, destroying invaluable artefacts, this morning 

The museum's destruction caused a social media outcry and students and researchers gathered to demonstrate in front of its still-smoldering remains.

'It's not enough just to cry, it is necessary that the federal government, which has resources, helps the museum to reconstruct its history,' the museum's director Alexandre Keller said in front of the devastated building.

The cherished historical repository that lacked a sprinkler system was reeling from years of financial neglect, making its destruction a ‘tragedy foretold’.

Outside the entrance to the elegant park that houses the building, police officers in riot gear shot tear gas into a small, angry crowd that tried to gain entry, live TV images showed.

Images broadcast on Monday shows firefighters still working on putting out the flames inside the smoking shell of the building. 

The fire broke out after the museum had closed for the day at 7.30pm local time and quickly spread throughout the building.

Live television broadcast images of the fire showed it burning out of control throughout the building late into the night.

Roberto Robadey, a spokesman for the fire department, said 80 firefighters were battling the blaze and that by midnight local time it was 'just about under control' and should be out within a few hours.  

WHAT TREASURES DID BRAZIL'S NATIONAL MUSEUM HOLD?

Brazil's National Museum, ravaged Sunday by a massive fire, is Latin America's largest natural history and anthropology museum, with more than 20 million artefacts and 530,000 titles.

Marking its 200-year anniversary in June, it was founded in 1818 by Portuguese King Joao VI and has been installed since 1892 in a former royal palace.

It sits in the Quinta da Boa Vista public park in the north of Rio de Janeiro, former palace gardens that now include the city's impressive Zoological Garden.

The museum has about 150,000 visitors a year, according to its website, and has become an important centre of research and learning, integrated since 1946 into the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. 

Lost forever: This Roman fresco which survived Vesuvius eruption in Pompeii is believed to be among the items destroyed in the fire 

The residence of the Portuguese royal family in the early 1800s and then the Brazilian imperial family, the Saint Christopher Palace is 123,000 square feet in area, around a third of which is dedicated to exhibition halls.

From 1889 to 1891 the neoclassical building hosted the assembly that wrote Brazil's first constitution; in 1892 it took in the royal museum, previously situated in central Rio, which included collections - notably Egyptian - acquired by the Portuguese royal family.

The library contains 537,000 works of which 1,560 are rare. 

The museum is particularly reputed for the richness of its paleontology department with more than 26,000 fossils, including a dinosaur skeleton discovered in Brazil's central Minas Gerais and several specimens of species that have now disappeared, like giant sloths and sabre-toothed tigers.

It is also home to the largest meteorite discovered in Brazil, named 'Bendego' and weighing 5.3 tons.

Its biological anthropology section includes the oldest human fossil found within today's Brazilian borders, known as 'Luzia'.

With more than 6.5 million specimens, the zoology department includes an exceptional collection of fish (600,000) and amphibians (100,000), as well as molluscs, reptiles, shells, corals and butterflies.

The herbarium, created in 1831, has 550,000 plants. 

Dedicated since the 19th century to research, the National Museum is the oldest scientific institution in the country and started teaching in 1927.

Researchers and laboratories occupy a large part of the building and it has over the past century developed a policy of international exchanges, learning and publication of research.

Important scientific figures have visited, including Albert Einstein and Marie Curie. 

The museum has suffered budget difficulties in recent years, closing temporarily in 2015 because of maintenance issues, Culture Minster Sergio Sa Leitao said Sunday.

In August 1995 the building suffered serious damage after storms led to flooding in the archeology department, notably damaging 3,000-year-old Egyptian mummies and causing parts of a tyrannosaurus skeleton to dissolve. 

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Even before the embers had begun to cool early Monday, grief over the huge cultural loss had given way to anger at across-the-board budget cuts threatening Brazil's multi-cultural heritage

Dozens of people gather in front of the National Museum of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, after it was caught up in flames on Sunday

Mourning: Members of staff returned to the museum this morning and broke down in tears upon seeing the damage

In ruins: A helicopter flies over the damaged museum building on Monday morning 

Still going: Firefighters continue to spray water to ensure the fire is completely put out after the blaze overnight

Devastating: The 200-year-old museum in Rio de Janeiro was destroyed by a huge fire, threatening its collection of more than 20million historical items

Sgt. Moises Torres from the state's firefighting headquarters said there was no immediate information about injuries

Nobody was reportedly injured during the fire as it began after the museum had closed for the day

Shocking: It is not known how the fire starter not the damage it may have caused to the millions of items housed inside

Trying their best: People rescue items during a fire at the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro

The museum houses several landmark collections including Egyptian artefacts and the oldest human fossil found in Brazil

Brazil's President, Michel Temer, said on Twitter: 'Incalculable to Brazil the loss of the collection of the National Museum.

'200 years of work, research and knowledge have been lost. The value of our history cannot be measured by the damage to the building that housed the royal family during the empire.

'It's a sad day for all Brazilians'.

Robadey said firefighters got off to a slow start fighting the blaze because the two fire hydrants closest to the museum were not functioning. Instead, trucks had to be sent to get water from a nearby lake.

He added that some of the museum's pieces had been spared.

'We were able to remove a lot of things from inside with the help of workers of the museum,' Robadey told Globo News. 

The National Museum's press service told local reporters that four security staffers had been evacuated in time. 

Brazil's culture minister Sergio Leitao told the Estado de S.Paulo newspaper that the blaze was likely caused by either an electrical short-circuit or a homemade paper hot-air balloon that may have landed on the roof. 

Launching such balloons is a long-held tradition in Brazil and they routinely cause fires. 

The National Museum's press service told local reporters that four security staffers had been evacuated in time

The historical building, pictured going up in flames, also once served as the residence for the Portuguese Royal Family

On Sunday evening the flames did not appear to be reducing in size as firefighters worked tirelessly to battle the fire 

The fire began at 7.30pm local time and quickly spread throughout the building, and on Sunday evening the flames did not appear to be reducing

The museum, which is tied to the Rio de Janeiro federal university and the education ministry, was founded in 1818. 

It houses several landmark collections, including Egyptian artifacts and the oldest human fossil found in Brazil.  

According to the museum's website, many of its collections came from members of Brazil's royal family. 

The historical building also once served as the residence for the Portuguese Royal Family. 

The museum had suffered from years of neglect under numerous governments, the institution's vice-director the Globo TV network on Sunday night. 

'We never got anything from the federal government,' said the official, Luiz Fernando Dias Duarte.

'We recently finalized an agreement with (state-run development bank) BNDES for a massive investment, so that we could finally restore the palace and, ironically, we had planned on a new fire prevention system.' 

The museum's pastel-yellow facade remained standing but a peek inside its giant windows revealed a roofless interior of blackened hallways and charred beams. Every so often, firemen emerged with a pot or a painting they had managed to rescue.

The museum is not the first to burn down in Brazil, where public money for cultural projects has been falling after a deep recession. In 2015, for example, the prestigious Museum of the Portuguese Language in Sao Paulo was destroyed by a blaze.

A policeman clears the area during a fire at the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Locals in Rio de Janeiro watch the flames destroy the famous National Museum overnight on Sunday

People watch as a fire burns at the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro late on Sunday night

Blame game: The museum's vice-director said it had suffered from years of neglect under numerous governments

In 2016, President Michel Temer was forced to reinstate the Culture Ministry after an outcry from some of the country's top artists over his policy to fold it into the Education Ministry to save money.

Between 2013 and 2017, the National Museum in Rio's federal funding fell about a third, to 643,567 reals, according to official budget data.

The funding cuts were particularly acute this year, with the museum receiving just 98,115 reals between January and August.

In late 2017, after a termite attack shuttered a room hosting the bones of the Maxakalisaurus dinosaur, the National Museum turned to a crowdfunding site to seek funds for reopening the exhibit. It raised nearly 60,000 reals, almost double its goal.

Renato Rodriguez Cabral, a teacher in the geology and paleontology department, said the museum's decline did not happen overnight.

‘This was a tragedy foretold,’ Cabral said as he hugged students and coworkers. ‘Successive governments would not provide funds, they would not invest in infrastructure.’

Cabral said the building received new wiring about 15 years ago, but that clearly there was not a sufficient plan to protect the museum from fire, adding: ‘The firefighters basically could only watch the blaze.’

The National Museum's collection ranged from archeological finds to historical memorabilia.