Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Brief history
Despite its size and importance, Belo Horizonte is little more than a century old,
founded in 1893 as “Cidade de Minas” on the site of the poor village of Curral del
Rei - of which nothing remains. Designed by Aarão Reisa and shaped by the novel
ideas of “progress” that emerged with the new Republic, it was the first of the new
Brazil's planned cities, inaugurated in 1897 and renamed Belo Horizonte nine years
later. As late as 1945 it had only 100,000 inhabitants; now it has twenty times that
number (some five million if one includes the city's metropolitan hinterland), an
explosive rate of growth even by Latin American standards.
2
Museu de Artes e Ofícios
Praça Rui Barbosa (Praça da Estação) s/n • Tues, Thurs & Fri noon-7pm, Wed noon-9pm, Sat & Sun 11am-5pm • R$4 •
T
31 3248 8600,
W
mao.org.br
The tone of Belo Horizonte's highly creative museums - the city only has a century or
so to work with - is set by the
Museu de Artes e Ofícios
, a museum of traditional trades
and industries set within the wonderfully enigmatic premises of the renovated
train
station
(a tunnel beneath the tracks connects the two sides). Essentially this is a huge
display of old machinery and tools from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but
there are some truly intriguing exhibits, including a video of the process of traditional
sugar refining, huge, antique sugar boiling vats, leather tanning drums and copper
alambiques (distilleries). Labels are in Portuguese only, but most displays have moveable
laminated cards with English translations. The station, one of the city's most elegant
buildings, is part of the attraction here, a Neoclassical confection built in 1922. It's
among Brazil's finest examples of “tropical Edwardiana”, although these days the station's
platforms are used only by commuters riding the city's
metrô
(the museum is completely
separate - enter via the main station entrance).
Mercado Central
Av Augusto de Lima 744 • Mon-Sat 7am-6pm, Sun 7am-1pm •
T
31 3274 9434,
W
mercadocentral.com.br
Founded in 1929 in what is now the scrappy commercial heart of Belo Horizonte, the
Mercado Central
is a sprawling indoor market of almost four hundred stalls. An incredible
variety of goods is on offer, ranging from the usual fruit, vegetables, cheeses and meats to
cachaças
, spices, medicinal herbs, kitchen equipment, rustic handicrafts and
umbanda
and
candomblé
accessories. It's also a great place to eat or drink (see p.150).
Avenida Afonso Pena and around
Running southeast from
Praça Sete
, the broad
Avenida Afonso Pena
bisects Belo
Horizonte and is home to some of the city's showcase buildings. Humming with
activity, Praça Sete itself is the home of the city's 1922 obelisk dubbed “pirulito”
(the lollipop), o
ce workers (this area is the city's main financial district), street
hustlers, bars and
lanchonetes
that stay open until midnight (even later at weekends).
South along Afonso Pena, between Rua da Bahia and Avenida Álvares Cabral, the
Art Deco-influenced
Prefeitura
(town hall) at no. 1212 was built in the 1930s in a
burst of civic pride; just a short distance on are the imposing
Palácio da Justiça
at
no. 1420 (completed in 1913), and the
Escola da Música
, each supported by
Corinthian columns.
Centro de Arte Contemporânea e Fotografia
Av Afonso Pena 737 • Tues-Sat 9.30am-9pm, Sun 4-9pm • Free •
T
31 3236 7400,
W
fcs.mg.gov.br
Managed since 2010 by the art-focused Fundação Clóvis Salgado - which also runs the
Palácio das Artes (see p.142) - the
Centro de Arte Contemporânea e Fotografia
hosts
