MOSCOW, June 20. /TASS/. Russian Minister of Culture Olga Lyubimova has invited Director of the National Museum of Brazil Alexander Kellner to take part in the jubilee cultural forum in St. Petersburg.

"I have invited Alexander Kellner to take part in our jubilee cultural forum in St. Petersburg, where we will have an opportunity to discuss issues of preserving the cultural heritage that are topical for the National Museum of Brazil with the professional museum community of Russia and many foreign countries," she wrote on her Telegram channel after visiting the museum and meeting with Kellner.

According to the Russian minister, the meeting was held amid the restoration works in the museum after the devastating fire in 2018, which destroyed 90% of the collection of the continent’s biggest museum of natural history and the humanities.

She noted that the topics that were discussed during the meeting included the establishment of ties with the leading Russian museums, prospects for the organization of exhibitions at the National Museum of Brazil and Russia’s participation in recovering the museum’s exposition.

The Rio de Janeiro-based National Museum of Brazil, the country’s oldest scientific institution, was destroyed by fire in 2018. Its collection used to have around 20 million exhibits, including archaeological artefacts, Ancient Egyptian objects and mummies, as well as minerals.