Museu Afro Brasileiro-MAFRO

What Museu Afro Brasileiro-MAFRO does

Museu Afro-Brasileiro (MAFRO) is a public university museum administered by the Department of Museology at the Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA) and housed in the historic Faculty of Medicine building in Salvador's UNESCO-listed Centro Histórico — the same site that held the Royal College of Jesuits (16th-18th centuries) and Brazil's first medical school from 1808. The museum was conceived in 1974 by anthropologist-photographer Pierre Verger, developed in the early 1980s by architect Jacyra Oswald and ethnolinguist Yeda Pessoa de Castro, and inaugurated on January 7, 1982. It holds a collection of more than 1,100 pieces spanning African material culture (including objects Verger collected in West Africa in 1974-1975 and twelve pieces originating from the Royal Museum of Central Africa in Tervuren, Belgium) and Afro-Brazilian religious material culture, with three long-term exhibitions — 'Artes do Crer', the Carybé 'Mural dos Orixás' (27 carved panels on loan from Abaeté Administradora), and 'MÁFRICAS: As Áfricas do MAFRO' — supplemented by a continuous rotation of temporary exhibitions such as 'Universo Cromático' (2026) and 'Nego Fugido: Memórias Quilombolas' (Nov 2025).

MAFRO operates a direct-to-consumer cultural services model. It charges R$10 full admission and R$5 half-price for students with ID and Brazilian seniors 60+, with free admission for public school students and teachers, UFBA community members, and children under 5. Group visits of 15-45 people require prior scheduling via Google Forms, and cultural mediation services are delivered by a team led by coordinator Prof. Dr. Marcelo Nascimento Bernardo da Cunha, museologist Amélia Costa (head of the Setor Educativo e Cultural created in 2022), conservation technician Devarnier L. H. de Almeida, and ~10 UFBA student interns. The customer base spans public and private school groups, the UFBA community, general public and tourists, and academic researchers, with programming aligned to Law 10.639/2003 mandating Afro-Brazilian history in Brazilian schools.

The museum's technology stack is modest: a PHP/Drupal CMS website available in four languages with VLibras sign-language accessibility, YouTube embeds, and downloadable didactic materials. The institution is not commercially operated — it does not generate disclosed revenue — and is instead funded through UFBA government allocations, project-based grants (notably BNDES support for the Technical Reserve and conservation project), and corporate sponsorships (e.g., Grupo Bradesco Seguros for the 2024 'Luzes Negras' project). Strategic partnerships with the Pierre Verger Foundation, Royal Museum of Central Africa, Abaeté Administradora, and the Museum of Cultures of Guiana (2025) anchor its collection and international programming.

Name

Museu Afro Brasileiro-MAFRO

Legal name

Museu Afro-Brasileiro da Universidade Federal da Bahia

Website

https://mafro.ceao.ufba.br

Company type

Private

Founded year

1982

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

MAFRO is a public university museum at the Federal University of Bahia in Salvador, Brazil, preserving and disseminating African and Afro-Brazilian material culture across 1,100+ pieces to school groups, the UFBA community, researchers, and the general public.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cultural Heritage Museum

NAICS

Museums (712110), Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (7121)

akta.pro primary industry

Specialty Museums (e.g., Maritime, Aviation, Sports, Music, Film) (THAJADAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Art Museums (THAJADAA)

Keywords

• Cultural heritage preservation
• Museum exhibition services
• Art collection curation
• Educational cultural programs
• Afro brazilian history

Headquarters

HQ city

Salvador

HQ country

Brazil

HQ region

Latin America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Admission Fees: The museum charges admission fees for general visitors: R$ 10 full price and R$ 5 for half-price tickets (students with ID, Brazilian seniors 60+). Free admission is provided to public school students, UFBA community members, and children under 5 accompanied by parents.
2. Institutional Funding: As a university museum under UFBA's Centro de Estudos Afro-Orientais, MAFRO receives government funding for operations, exhibitions, and conservation projects. BNDES provided support for the Technical Reserve implantation project.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

MAFRO is a public university museum that preserves and exhibits a collection of more than 1,100 pieces of African and Afro-Brazilian material culture in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. Its core offerings include long-duration and temporary exhibitions (such as Artes do Crer, Mural dos Orixás by Carybé, and MÁFRICAS), cultural mediation visits for school and general public groups, the Museu-Escola educational program, university extension courses, internship programs, the Africanidades academic journal, and downloadable didactic materials. The museum supports research, teaching, and ethnic-racial education as mandated by Brazilian Law 10.639/2003.

Product overview

Museu Afro-Brasileiro (MAFRO) is a university museum affiliated with the Federal University of Bahia, offering a unified portfolio of cultural and educational services centered on African and Afro-Brazilian heritage preservation and dissemination. The museum houses over 1,100 pieces of African and Afro-Brazilian material culture across two main collections (African and Afro-Brazilian). The core offerings include long-term exhibitions (Artes do Crer, Mural dos Orixás by Carybé, MÁFRICAS), temporary exhibitions featuring contemporary artists, cultural mediation visits, school programs (Museu-Escola), and educational publications (Africanidades journal). The museum also provides technical reserve services, internship programs, and extension courses, all supported by an online library with articles and dissertations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Artes do Crer (Long-duration Exhibition) Long-duration exhibition presenting part of MAFRO's Afro-Brazilian Religious Material Culture collection, valuing the memory of the collection's formation and its importance as a document of sacred art of African origin and inspiration produced in Bahia. Open to general visitors, school groups, and researchers.
• Mural dos Orixás by Carybé (Long-duration Exhibition)

Quantifiable outcome

• Free educational visits for all public school students, supporting mandatory Afro-Brazilian history education

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Museum of Cultures of Guiana (Museu das Culturas da Guiana)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2025During the 'France in Brazil' program, the Museum of Cultures of Guiana conducted a mission at MAFRO with various activities including exhibitions, painting workshops by artists Franky Amete and Antoine Duinguiou, and traditional dance workshops (Awasa and Songe) from French Guiana.
• GOMA Mentorship ProgramminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2024Partnered with the GOMA Mentorship Program for the 'Luzes Negras' project visibility initiative.
• UFBA Department of MuseologycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSince the 1990s, technical and administrative management has been conducted by professors of the Department of Museology at the Federal University of Bahia, affirming the museum as a place of research and teaching related to museology.
• Abaeté Administradora de Bens Próprios S.A.coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOwner of the 'Mural dos Orixás' panels created by Carybé; provides the collection on loan (comodato) for exhibition at MAFRO. Company is controlled by descendants of Clemente Mariani.
• Pierre Verger FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOriginal 1974 project conceived by anthropologist and photographer Pierre Verger (Ojú Oba - 'eyes of Xangô'), who collected pieces from West Africa (1974-1975) that form part of the museum's African Collection.
• Royal Museum of Central Africa (Tervuren, Belgium)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe first twelve pieces of MAFRO are copies from the Royal Museum of Central Africa in Tervuren, Belgium, donated through museum exchange programs.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves10 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Market position

Competitive moat4 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/museuafro2
• Instagraminstagram.com/mafroufba
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/museu-afro-brasileiro-mafro

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Museu Afro Brasileiro-MAFRO