The Museu Afro Brasil opened in 2004 inside a Niemeyer pavilion in Ibirapuera Park and is the most important museum of Afro-Brazilian history and culture in the country. The permanent collection runs through the African origins of half the Brazilian population — the Atlantic slave trade, plantation life, the abolition of slavery in 1888 (the last in the Americas), and the development of Afro-Brazilian religion, art, music, and literature. The Candomblé and Umbanda sections are particularly strong.
The contemporary art rotation has been the museum's other major focus and has launched a generation of Black Brazilian artists. Allow two hours; the museum sits within walking distance of the MAM and the Bienal pavilion in Ibirapuera, so it is best visited as part of a longer afternoon in the park.