Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Rodoviária
DIAMANTINA
Casa de
Juscelino
Kubitschek
2
Museu do
Diamante
Casa Chica
da Silva
Catedral
Casa da
Intendência
RUA MACAU DO MEIO
PRAÇA JK
PRAÇA
CONSELHEIRO
MATA
PRAÇA
DE SE
Banco do Brasil
Igreja de N.S
do Carmo
PRAÇA
ANTÔNIO
NEVES
PRAÇA
BARÃO DE
GUAICUI
Mercado
dos Tropeiros
Igreja do
Rosário
RUA DO ROSÁRI O
BAR
Recanto do Antônio
1
ACCOMMODATION
Diamantina Hostel
Pousada do Garimpo
Pouso da Chica
Relínquias do Tempo
Tijuco
1
3
2
4
5
CAFÉS AND RESTAURANTS
Aocalípse
Casa Velha
Livraria Café Espaço B
3
1
2
0
200
metres
slaves right up until the late nineteenth century. The rest of the museum is great to
wander through and stuffed with memorabilia that ranges from mouldering top hats
to photos of long-dead town bandsmen. The house itself once belonged to José da Silva
e Oliveira Rolim, aka
Padre Rolim
(1747-1835), a major figure in the Inconfidência
Mineira, but barely remembered here.
JUSCELINO KUBITSCHEK
Juscelino Kubitschek
, one of Brazil's great postwar presidents, was born in Diamantina in
1902 and spent the first seventeen years of his life in the town. His enduring monument is
the capital city he built on the Planalto Central, Brasília, which fired Brazil's and the world's
imaginations and where his remains are interred (he was killed in a road accident in 1976).
The house where he grew up between the ages of five and eighteen,
Casa de Juscelino
Kubitschek
, is preserved as a shrine to his memory(Tues-Sat 8am-5pm, Sun 8am-1pm; R$3;
T
38 3531 3607), on the steep Rua São Francisco, uphill from his statue at the bottom.
Juscelino had a meteoric political career, fuelled by his energy, imagination and
uncompromising
liberal
instincts. You can understand his lifelong concern with the poor
from the small, unpretentious house where he spent the first part of his life in poverty
(Juscelino was from a poor Czech-gypsy family). Restoration has rather flattered the house,
as the photos of how it was when he lived there make plain; with the exception of Lula, no
Brazilian president has come from a humbler background.
September 12
, his birthday, is
Diamantina's most important
festa
, featuring music of all kinds performed in the town's
praças
late into the night. Many still don't believe his death was a genuine accident, just as few
mineiros
believe Tancredo really died of natural causes. The massive turnout for Juscelino's
funeral
in Brasília in 1976 was one of the first times Brazilians dared to show their detestation
of the military regime.
