Though closed for renovations at the time of research, the small Museu do Índio features multimedia exhibitions on Brazil’s northern tribes and provides an excellent introduction to the economic, religious and social life of Brazil’s indigenous people. Next to native food and medicinal plants, the four life-size dwellings in the courtyard were actually built by four different tribes.
As a branch of Funai (the National Indian Foundation), the museum contains an excellent archive of more than 14,000 objects, 50,000 photographs and 200 sound recordings. Its indigenous ethnography library containing 16,000 volumes by local and foreign authors is open to the public during the week.