Museu Rondon

The Museu Rondon at the Federal University of Mato Grosso campus has one of the better collections of indigenous artefacts in western Brazil. Mato Grosso is home to a substantial indigenous population — the Xavante, the Bororo, the Kayapó, and many smaller groups — and the museum holds ceremonial objects, textiles, tools, and headdresses that document these cultures across several centuries of contact with the outside world.

The exhibits are laid out thematically rather than by tribe, which makes for an accessible introduction to the diversity of Amazonian and cerrado cultures. Labels are in Portuguese, but the objects speak for themselves. The university campus is about 10 km from the city centre; the journey is worth making if you are heading from Cuiabá into Pantanal lodges, where understanding the indigenous context of the region adds significantly to the experience.

things to do museum
A story
The museum is named for Marechal Cândido Rondon, the Mato Grosso-born military officer who spent three decades mapping and pacifying the Brazilian interior in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Rondon, part Bororo indigenous himself, insisted on a policy of non-violence toward indigenous peoples — his motto was "die if you must, but never kill" — and is remembered as one of the more humane figures in the history of Brazilian expansion.