Entre as décadas de 1950 e 1970, o edifício do Palácio e a praça do entorno sofreram uma série de modificações. E, entre as décadas de 1980 e 1990, o prédio passou por uma situação de abandono, o que acarretou um processo de degradação da construção.

Em 1999, quando Jorge Viana assume o governo do estado do Acre, inicia – em conjunto com as reformas estruturais em nas paisagens urbanas – um projeto de restauro do imóvel que dura até 2002. No mesmo ano ocorre a inauguração do Museu Palácio Rio Branco, que passa a ocupar o piso inferior do prédio.

The Rio Branco Palace was built between 1930 and 1948 as part of the political plan of governor Hugo Carneiro (1927-1930), who launched a construction project for the capital of Acre, initiating a series of urban infrastructure works, among them the replacement of wooden buildings by masonry.

Between the 1950s and the 1970s, the Palace building and the surrounding square underwent a series of modifications. And, between the 1980s and 1990s, the building was abandoned, which led to a process of degradation of the building.

In 1999, when Jorge Viana became governor of the state of Acre, he started - along with structural reforms in the urban landscape - a project to restore the building, which lasted until 2002. In the same year occurs the inauguration of the Palácio Rio Branco Museum, which now occupies the lower floor of the building.

Porém, sua inscrição no Livro de Tombo Histórico somente ocorreu em 16 de março de 2006. Atualmente, esse monumento encontra-se inserido na Zona de Preservação Histórico-Cultural (ZPHC), do Plano Diretor (PD) do Município de Rio Branco, elaborado pela Prefeitura Municipal de Rio Branco (PMRB), em 2006. 

The Rio Branco Palace is part of a complex of buildings that make up the "historic center" of the city of Rio Branco, together with the buildings of the Legislative Assembly, the Palace of Justice, the Palace of Secretaries, the Memorial of the Autonomists, the Plaza of the Peoples of the Forest, the Plaza of the Rubber Tappers, and the Cathedral of Our Lady of Nazareth. As an action of the state policy for historical heritage, the Rio Branco Palace was the first monument to be listed as a heritage asset by the Acre government. The first measure, in this direction, occurred with the publication of the Tombamento Decree in 1999.

However, its inscription in the Livro de Tombo Histórico (Book of Historical Takes) only occurred on March 16, 2006. Currently, this monument is inserted in the Zone of Historic-Cultural Preservation (ZPHC), of the Master Plan (PD) of the Municipality of Rio Branco, prepared by the Municipal Government of Rio Branco (PMRB), in 2006. 

O Museu Palácio Rio Branco está localizado na Praça dos Povos da Floresta, situada na Avenida Getúlio Vargas, s/n, Centro. Possui fácil acesso por estar localizado na zona central da cidade, que é servida por diversas linhas de ônibus.

O prédio do Museu é fácil de ser identificado por sua beleza arquitetônica que se destaca no meio da paisagem urbana. Entretanto, a visualização do Museu é mais difícil, pois não há nenhum tipo de placa que identifique o espaço como um espaço museológico.

Located in Rio Branco, in the state of Acre, the Palácio Rio Branco Museum is a non-profit cultural institution, belonging to the Fundação de Cultura e Comunicação Elias Mansour (FEM) of the Acre State Government.

The Palácio Rio Branco Museum is located at the Praça dos Povos da Floresta (Forest Peoples' Square), on Getúlio Vargas Avenue, s/n, Downtown. It is easily accessible, since it is located in the city center, which is served by several bus lines.

The museum building can easily be identified by its architectural beauty that stands out in the middle of the urban landscape. However, the visualization of the museum is more difficult, since there is no type of sign that identifies the space as a museum.

Nesta primeira sala temos em exposição diversas fotografias que ilustram toda história do Palácio Rio Branco, bem como das praças que existem em seu entorno. Aqui estão expostos desde o projeto original que orientou o inicio das obras do Palácio em 1929, passando por imagens das diversas fases sua construção que se estendeu até o fim da década de 40, pelas modificações que o Palácio sofreu ao longo das últimas quatro décadas. Parte das atividades sociais, políticas culturais e religiosas que sempre ocorreram nas ruas e praças ao seu redor.

Além disso, essa sala mostra também diversos objetos e imagens que retratam o árduo cotidiano dos seringueiros que com seu trabalho no interior da floresta deram origem à singular sociedade definitiva do Governo do Acre: O Palácio Rio Branco. 

This space addresses the construction of the Rio Branco Palace through a scenario that has as its most striking element five photographs representing the different construction phases of the building and covering the entire length of the room (one photograph on each wall and one more on the floor of the room). 

The introductory text found at the entrance of the room highlights the importance of the building's architecture:
The history of the Rio Branco Palace is intertwined with the history of the city of Rio de Janeiro and the State of Acre itself. This imposing building, situated in the heart of Acre's largest city, represents much more than one of the main architectural and urbanistic landmarks of the Amazon West. Through its walls, rooms, columns, windows, and squares we can learn about the complex trajectory of a society that was made rich by the rubber forests, even against the will of powerful men, countries, or international economic agents. It is a little of this history that we begin to know when we enter the Rio Branco Palace.
In this first room we have on display several photographs that illustrate the whole history of the Rio Branco Palace, as well as the surrounding squares. Here are displayed from the original project that guided the beginning of the Palace construction in 1929, through images of the several phases of its construction that lasted until the end of the 1940's, to the modifications that the Palace underwent during the last four decades. Part of the social, political, cultural, and religious activities that have always taken place in the streets and squares around it.
In addition, this room also shows various objects and images that portray the arduous daily life of the rubber tappers who, with their work in the interior of the forest, gave birth to the singular definitive society of the Acre Government: the Rio Branco Palace. 

Teve início assim um longo e demorado trabalho de recuperação de portas, pisos, forros e outros elementos arquitetônicos do Palácio Rio Branco. Infelizmente, muitos desses elementos já haviam sido perdidos irremediavelmente. Entretanto, diversos outros elementos arquitetônicos e decorativos puderam ser recuperados a partir da intensa pesquisa desenvolvida durante a obra e o trabalho de operários especialmente treinados para tal fim.

Esta sala mostra alguns aspectos do estado de degradação a que havia chegado o Palácio Rio Branco e um pouco do que foi esse trabalho de recuperação, através de imagens e de objetos originais (ladrilhos, lustres, telhas, etc.) do Palácio recuperado durante as obras.

The second room of the museum shows the recovery and restoration work of the Rio Branco Palace.

Since it was inaugurated on June 15, 1930, the Rio Branco Palace has undergone several renovations that have deprived it of many of its original elements. In addition, its complete abandonment in the 1990s led the Palace to a state of intense degradation. It was this situation that made the state government seek its recovery based on information from former residents of Rio Branco, civil servants who worked there for decades, and former governors and their families who lived on the palace premises.
Thus began a long and time-consuming job of recovering the doors, floors, ceilings, and other architectural elements of the Rio Branco Palace. Unfortunately, many of these elements had already been irretrievably lost. However, several other architectural and decorative elements could be recovered from the intense research developed during the work and the work of laborers specially trained for this purpose.
This room shows some aspects of the state of degradation that the Rio Branco Palace had reached, and a little of what this recovery work was, through images and original objects (tiles, chandeliers, roof tiles, etc.) of the Palace recovered during the works.

As pesquisas que foram realizadas nos últimos 20 anos atestam que se tratam de imensos sítios que foram habitados por grupos humanos até então desconhecidos. Esta sala mostra um pouco destes povos pré-históricos que fabricavam grandes urnas de cerâmica e lâminas de machado com blocos de piçarras, graças à famosa falta de pedras da região.

Entre 3.000 e 1.000 anos passados, pelo menos, esses foram os senhores do vale do Acre e deixaram inscritas no solo sua maior realização: os grandes e estranhos sítios geométricos na terra. Círculos de terra tão perfeitos, com 130 a 350 metros de diâmetro, só poderiam ser feitos depois de derrubadas as imensas árvores amazônicas. Além disso, a grande quantidade de terra que teve que ser movimentada para compor as valas e os muros que delimitam os sítios geométricos impressiona. Principalmente quando lembramos que esses grupos ainda não conheciam ferramentas de metal.

Muitas são as perguntas que temos sobre esses povos: De onde vieram? Para onde foram? Seriam os antepassados dos índios que conhecemos? Por que construíram essas formas geométricas na terra? Esses sítios seriam grandes geoglifos, letras no chão para seres vistas de cima? Seriam fortificações de guerra? Seriam resultado de uma cultura mais avançada que começava a desenvolver uma arquitetura própria, amazônica, nessa região? Seria apenas magia? Temos poucas respostas ainda.

The thematic axis "History of Peopulation" begins in Room 3: "Vestiges of Prehistory". This room highlights the pre-colonial past of Acre through archeological objects and images of Geoglyphs - archeological sites found in the Western Amazon region. 

Circles, squares, hexagons, squares with circles inside, walls and ditches carved into the earth. This is how those who fly over Acre see these mysterious archeological sites that only exist here.
The research that has been done in the last 20 years attests that these are immense sites that were inhabited by previously unknown human groups. This room shows a little of these prehistoric peoples who made large ceramic urns and axe blades with blocks of cobblestones, thanks to the region's famous lack of stones.
Between at least 3,000 and 1,000 years ago, these were the lords of the Acre valley, and they left their greatest achievement inscribed in the ground: the large and strange geometric sites in the earth. Such perfect circles of earth, 130 to 350 meters in diameter, could only be made after felling the immense Amazon trees. Furthermore, the large amount of earth that had to be moved to make up the ditches and walls that delimit the geometric sites is impressive. Especially when we remember that these groups did not yet know metal tools.
We have many questions about these people: Where did they come from? Where did they go? Were they the ancestors of the Indians we know? Why did they build these geometric shapes on the earth? Were these sites large geoglyphs, letters in the ground to be seen from above? Were they war fortifications? Were they the result of a more advanced culture that was beginning to develop its own Amazonian architecture in this region? Was it just magic? We have few answers yet.

Os primeiros brancos não entendiam nada da aparentemente confusa diversidade de povos e de línguas. Mas os povos nativos do Acre sabiam perfeitamente os territórios de seus vizinhos, perambulando pelas margens dos rios que lhes pertenciam durante o verão e voltando para a terra firme no tempo de chuva.

Com a chegada dos brancos tudo mudou. Muitas nações indígenas passaram a abertura e a exploração dos seringais, outras resistiram e lutaram contra os invasores brasileiros, peruanos e bolivianos. Assim diversas tribos desapareceram para sempre, seja em razão das correrias que destruíram aldeias inteiras, seja em razão de doenças que os homens brancos trouxeram consigo e que eram fatais para os índios que aqui habitavam.

Ainda assim, os povos indígenas do Acre souberam encontrar formar de manter sua integridade étnica e chegaram até os dias de hoje, falando suas línguas, praticando seus costumes e contando seus mitos da floresta. É um pouco da imensa riqueza cultural desses povos, expressa através de sua tecelagem, cestaria, cerâmica, arte, plumária e de outros objetos e imagens que podemos conhecer nessa sala.

This room represents the indigenous settlement in Acre and the exhibition resources used are: sixteen totems representing the sixteen ethnic groups in Acre and showcases fixed on the wall where the ethnographic objects belonging to these ethnic groups are displayed. 
When the white man arrived in Acre, in the middle of the 19th century, he found dozens of indigenous nations that divided the territory of the high Acrean rivers among themselves. In the valleys of the Purus and Acre, the Aruak-speakers such as the Apurinã, Kanamari, Machineri, Madiha, and others dominated. In the Juruá and Abunã valleys the feared Pano speakers dominated, such as the Kaxinawá, Jamináua, Iawanauaá, Arara and many other clans and ethnic denominations.
The first whites understood nothing of the seemingly confusing diversity of peoples and languages. But the native peoples of Acre knew perfectly well the territories of their neighbors, wandering along the banks of the rivers that belonged to them during the summer and returning to the mainland in the rainy season.
With the arrival of the whites everything changed. Many indigenous nations passed to the opening and exploitation of the rubber plantations, others resisted and fought against the Brazilian, Peruvian and Bolivian invaders. Thus several tribes disappeared forever, either because of the rushes that destroyed entire villages, or because of the diseases that the white men brought with them and which were fatal to the Indians who lived here.
Even so, the indigenous people of Acre were able to find ways to maintain their ethnic integrity and have come down to the present day, speaking their languages, practicing their customs, and telling their myths of the forest. It is a little of the immense cultural wealth of these peoples, expressed through their weaving, basketry, ceramics, art, featherwork, and other objects and images that we can see in this room.

E foi exatamente essa mistura de diferentes línguas, cores, hábitos alimentares, crenças e culturas provenientes de várias partes do mundo que deu origem a sociedade acreana. Por isso, nessa sala estão expostas fotografias e histórias dos quatro principais grupos étnicos formadores do nosso povo: nordestinos, negros, sírio-libaneses e europeus. Cada qual com sua contribuição original para a formação do Acre, que se torna mais evidente e viva a partir das histórias familiares contadas pelos próprios descendentes desses povos e que podem ser ouvidas nessa sala.

This room represents the most recent settlement of the state of Acre that occurred at the end of the 19th century, with the arrival of migrants from various parts of the world.

With the beginning of the race for the black gold (the old name for the dark rubber pellets), starting in the last decades of the 19th century, thousands of men and women from all parts of the world flocked to Acre. In the ports of the Acre rivers disembarked successive waves of people from Ceará, Potiguá, Maranhão, Bahia, Pernambuco, Rio Grande do Sul, Rio de Janeiro, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, English, Syrian, Lebanese, Turkish, Barbadian, in short, a great multitude of races that shared the same dream: to achieve fortune through the white milk of the rubber trees.
And it was exactly this mixture of different languages, colors, eating habits, beliefs, and cultures from various parts of the world that gave birth to the Acre society. For this reason, photographs and stories of the four main ethnic groups that formed our people are displayed in this room: northeasterners, blacks, Syrian-Lebanese, and Europeans. Each one with its original contribution to the formation of Acre, which becomes more evident and alive through the family stories told by the descendants of these people and that can be heard in this room.

Desde os dias da dominação estrangeira e da ameaça da implantação do Bolivian Syndicate nesta região que os primeiros acreanos tiveram que pegar em armas para garantir que essas terras fizessem parte do Brasil, lugar de origem da esmagadora maioria dos seringalistas e seringueiros que aqui se encontravam, exatamente há um século atrás.

Depois veio o tempo das revoltas autonomistas que lutaram contra o sistema de Território Federal e que não permitia que os acreanos exercessem plenamente sua cidadania. Tratava-se então de conquistar o direito de votar para escolher democraticamente seus governantes, do direito a uma arrecadação e um orçamento próprios, do direito a ter uma constituição verdadeiramente acreana. Foi uma longa luta de 58 anos para até que, em 1962, o Acre passou a ser um estado autônomo como todos os outros da federação brasileira.

Finalmente, quando a expansão da fronteira agropecuária brasileira, promovida pela ditadura militar nos anos 70, chegou ao Acre, depois de arrasar as florestas de Mato Grosso e de Rondônia, foi preciso novamente lutar. A desapropriação seringais, a implantação de grandes projetos agropecuários, a expulsão de ribeirinhos, índios e seringueiros de suas terras tradicionais e o crescimento dos bolsões de miséria em torno das cidades acreanas levou a formação da Aliança dos Povos da Floresta.

Os empates, feitos por homens, mulheres e crianças, passaram a impedir a derrubada da floresta. Não só para defender as imensas árvores amazônicas. Mas, principalmente, para manter um modo de vida muito característico e especial, criado por uma sociedade que surgiu graças ao leite de uma das muitas árvores dessa imensa floresta. Essa luta foi reconhecida por todo o planeta e mais uma vez foi vitoriosa.

Por isso essa sala mostra imagens e objetos que contam um pouco dessa história de lutas e de alguns dos homens que pagaram com suas próprias vidas pelo direito da sociedade acreana determinar seu caminho no mundo. 

 
Room 06 is the last room of the long term exhibition of the Palácio Rio Branco Museum. It is dedicated to the various struggles that the people of the state of Acre have had to face throughout the history of Acre.

The people of Acre, formed by so many different races, have built their unique identity based on the many struggles they have had to fight over time to win their most essential rights.
Since the days of foreign domination and the threat of the implantation of the Bolivian Syndicate in this region, the first Acreans had to take up arms to guarantee that these lands would be part of Brazil, the place of origin of the overwhelming majority of rubber tappers and rubber tappers who were here, exactly one century ago.
Then came the time of the autonomist revolts that fought against the Federal Territory system, which did not allow the people of the Acre to fully exercise their citizenship. It was then a matter of conquering the right to vote to democratically choose their governors, the right to their own revenue and budget, the right to have a truly Acre constitution. It was a long struggle of 58 years until, in 1962, Acre became an autonomous state like all the others in the Brazilian federation.
Finally, when the expansion of the Brazilian agricultural and cattle ranching frontier, promoted by the military dictatorship in the 1970s, reached Acre, after razing the forests of Mato Grosso and Rondônia, it was necessary to fight again. The expropriation of rubber plantations, the implementation of large agricultural and cattle ranching projects, the expulsion of riverside dwellers, Indians and rubber tappers from their traditional lands and the growth of poverty pockets around the Acre cities led to the formation of the Alliance of Forest Peoples.
The draws, made by men, women and children, began to prevent the cutting down of the forest. Not only to defend the immense Amazon trees. But mainly to maintain a very characteristic and special way of life, created by a society that emerged thanks to the milk from one of the many trees of this immense forest. This struggle was recognized all over the planet and once again was victorious.
This is why this room shows images and objects that tell a little of this history of struggles and of some of the men who paid with their own lives for the right of the Acre society to determine its path in the world.