Civil Police Museum, Police museum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The Civil Police Museum displays documents and items showing police work from colonial times through today. The exhibition includes weapons, equipment, written records, and religious objects from various periods.

The museum was founded in 1912 as a teaching aid for the Police School, part of a federal project to modernize the Rio de Janeiro Civil Police by replacing empirical investigation methods with European criminal and medico-legal techniques. It opened to the public in the 1930s. A 2007 decree placed it under the institution's Administrative Sub-Chief, stressing its cultural mission.

The collection shows materials from Brazilian political movements and objects connected to Afro-Brazilian religious traditions. Visitors can see how these different currents played a role in Rio de Janeiro's history.

The museum occupies a French eclectic building from 1910 by architect Heitor de Mello, registered with the International Council of Museums as a scientific museum. Its collections are organised by theme, from the founding of the force to firearms and the former political police. The Black Magic collection has not been on public display since 1999, so check what is currently shown before planning a visit.

A collection of black magic objects was gathered in the 1920s and became the country's first protected ethnographic collection in 1938. These items reveal religious traditions that were long misunderstood or overlooked in Brazilian history.