The essay is about the five first years of Affonso de Escragnolle de Taunay's term in the Museu Paulista, from 1971 to 1922. In this short period, essential to understand the profile the museum acquired later, Taunay gave the ancient institution of Ipiranga the main outlines of a museum of History, or even more precisely, a "place of national memory", intending to establish it as a place of origin of the Brazilian nation and, at the same time, granting São Paulo with the longed outstanding place in the national scenario. The author deals this way with the main transformations that had been carried out in the museum, in relation to the naturalist Hermman von Ihering's former term as a director, following year by year the opening of new room dedicated to the national history and the São Paulo's realization of the historic decoration of the monumental spaces of the museum for the Brazil's Independence centenary party in 1922.
History Museums; Museu Paulista; Centenary of Brazil's Independence; National History