The Jewish Museum of Rio de Janeiro was founded in 1977 by members of the city’s Jewish community in order to recover and preserve its history and its memories.
Jewish immigrants began arriving in Brazil in the first decade of the 20th century. They were composed mainly of immigrants from Eastern Europe. Successive migratory waves left their mark in objects, documents, books, and photos representative of their cultural ancestry. These documents today make up the museum’s collection. The Jewish Museum is a place for Holocaust remembrance and used as an homage to its survivors, some of whom still live in Rio.
The museum has functioned since 1986 in the current headquarters of the Israeli Federation of Rio de Janeiro State (FIERJ) and the Jewish Confederation of Brazil (CONIB).