The Museum of Yesterday, in Portuguese ‘Museu do Ontem’, is a mobile app for discovering the history of the old port of Rio de Janeiro, made in close cooperation with the first independent news agency in Brazil, Agência Pública.

In essence, the app is a collection of, about 160 stories, articles, audios and videos related to Rio’s old port, the Porto Maravilha, the ‘marvellous port’.
Some of these stories are illustrated by artist Juliana Russo, who also made hand drawn maps of both the port area as it is now, as well as what it looked like back in 1830.
Most of the Portuguese audio was narrated by Anelis Assumpção, a well known Brazilian singer.

All the content of the app is available in both Portuguese, the primary market being Brazil, and English.

What sets the app apart is that it’s not possible to access the content unless you physically explore Rio’s old port. In fact, every piece of content being tied to a physical location in the old port, to access the stories, you have to physically get close to each location. So, you have to explore the port area, in person, to learn about its past.

In addition, though the app does put all the stories, and yourself, on a map, you can not zoom or scroll the map, meaning that the visible area is limited by the screen size of your device. Pointers direct you to nearby locations but, mostly, you’re on your own, that is, you have to find your own way to unlock Rio’s past.