Situated on the grounds of the city's sacred Art Deco sports masterpiece — Pacaembu Stadium — the Museu de Futebol (Soccer Museum) in Sao Paulo pulls in kids and adults alike with its thoughtful, thrilling interactive exhibitions. Upon entering the museum visitors are greeted in Portuguese, Spanish and English by a life-size image of Pele, who is so revered in Brazil that he is known simply as "O Rei," or "The King."
"The Louvre has the Mona Lisa. We have our own piece of art -- Pele," said Hugo Sukman of the Roberto Marinho Foundation, which helped fund the construction of the museum.
In many ways, the museum is a shrine to Pele, whose real name is Edson Arantes do Nascimento.
One of its most impressive displays is a temporary exhibit with 140 items from Pele's personal collection, including the wooden shoeshine box he used as a boy to earn spare change and the ball from his 1,000th goal in 1969.
The museum traces football's transformation from an elite sport to the passion of the masses in this vast, multiracial country of 190 million people. From the jungles of the Amazon to the slums of cities like Rio de Janeiro and Recife, soccer is a constant that unites Brazilians from all walks of life.
"Inevitably, a museum about football is also a museum about the history of Brazil and Brazilian culture," said Leonel Kaz, the museum's curator.
SAMBA BEAT
Much of the museum is interactive, using the latest technology to chronicle the legendary moments of Brazilian football. There is video testimony from renowned sports journalists and Brazilian celebrities recounting the most memorable goals of their lives as the screen flashes to the original footage.
There is an official goal where visitors can have a crack at a penalty kick while a radar gun measures the speed of the ball. There are jaw-dropping highlight reels of Pele and Garrincha, recordings of famous radio announcers calling goals at the top of their lungs, and scores of images and facts from all 18 World Cups.
In one room, visitors don 3-D glasses to watch a four-minute display of two-time world player of the year Ronaldinho dribbling a soccer ball to a samba beat without letting it touch the ground. In another, life-size images of 25 of the greatest Brazilian footballers of all time are projected onto screens hanging from the ceiling, making it seem like they are floating in the air.
Another exhibit tells the story of Charles Miller, the son of a Scottish father and a Brazilian mother of English descent who introduced the sport in Brazil in 1894 when he returned from a stay in England with two soccer balls and a rule book.
Miller went on to found Brazil's first professional football team, the Sao Paulo Athletic Club, and helped spread the game throughout the country well after his retirement in 1910.
The museum, which costs just 6 reais ($2.50) to visit, is proving a big hit, especially with children.
"Kids today associate museums with old things. This is helps break that taboo," Fabio Brandao, a 45-year-old advertising executive from Sao Paulo, said after exiting the museum.
Source: REUTERS
