Belo Horizonte
Capital Of Minas Gerais, A Planned City Inaugurated 1897; Its Pampulha Modern Ensemble By Oscar Niemeyer Is A UNESCO World Heritage Site Inscribed 2016 · Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais
Belo Horizonte is the capital of Minas Gerais, a planned city of about two and a half million people laid out in the 1890s and inaugurated in 1897 to replace Ouro Preto as the state capital. It sits in a bowl of hills below the Serra do Curral and is not a classic sightseeing city, but it has one world-class set piece. In the early 1940s the young mayor Juscelino Kubitschek had Oscar Niemeyer design a leisure suburb around the artificial Pampulha lake: a casino, a dance hall, a yacht club and the curved Church of St Francis of Assisi, with tiles and paintings by Cândido Portinari and gardens by Roberto Burle Marx. This Pampulha Modern Ensemble, a first sketch for Brasília, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016. The city is also known as Brazil's capital of the boteco, the corner bar, and for the Mercado Central, the museums around the Praça da Liberdade and the Mineirão stadium. Many visitors use it as a base for Inhotim, Ouro Preto and the Serra do Cipó.
Lagoa da Pampulha and Centro, Belo Horizonte, MG, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
The city itself runs all year, but its sights keep separate patterns. The Pampulha buildings open in the daytime from Tuesday to Sunday and most close on Monday; the Church of St Francis of Assisi is still a working church, so visits pause for Mass, weddings and baptisms, especially at weekends, and a small entry fee has applied at times - confirm. The Pampulha Art Museum in the former casino has closed for long restoration periods in the past, so check before planning a day around it. The museums of the Praça da Liberdade circuit generally open Tuesday to Sunday and close on Monday, several with free entry. The Mercado Central opens every day from morning to afternoon, with shorter hours on Sunday and holidays, and the bars inside run until the market closes. The Sunday craft fair on Avenida Afonso Pena is a morning affair. Mineirão stadium tours stop on match days. Bars are busiest from Thursday to Saturday nights and during the Comida di Buteco contest, usually in the first half of the year - confirm the dates. Carnival has grown large and fills central streets for days.