Editing Belo Horizonte (section)

==Culture==
{{see also|Culture of Brazil}}

===Music===
[[File:Sala Minas Gerais 02.jpg|thumb|[[Sala Minas Gerais]], at the [[Centro de Cultura Presidente Itamar Franco]], is the house of the Minas Gerais Philharmonic Orchestra.]]

[[Clube da Esquina]] is one of the most important musical movements in the musical history of Brazil. It originated in the mid-1960s, and since then its members have been hugely influential in Brazilian and even international music, some like Milton Nascimento and Toninho Horta achieving worldwide acclaim. Other people involved in the movement include musicians, songwriters, composers, conductors and lyricists, such as Tavinho Moura, [[Wagner Tiso]], [[Andersen Viana]], [[Milton Nascimento]], [[Lô Borges]], [[Beto Guedes]], Flávio Venturini, [[Toninho Horta]], [[Márcio Borges]] and [[Fernando Brant]], among others.

The band [[Uakti (band)|Uakti]], known for performing with self-built [[musical instrument]]s, originated in Belo Horizonte under the influence of Walter Smetak and the Composition School from Bahia. Also, several nationally famous rock groups have been founded in Belo Horizonte, including [[Jota Quest]], [[Pato Fu]], [[Skank (band)|Skank]], [[14 Bis (Band)|14 Bis]] and Tianastácia. In later years, Belo Horizonte has been more frequently included in Brazilian tours of foreign mainstream and independent acts.

Belo Horizonte is also known as the Brazilian Capital of [[Metal music]], hence the huge number of heavy metal bands (and the likes) founded there, especially in the 1980s. Most importantly, Overdose, the first metal band from BH and one of the first to gain prominence in Brazil; [[Sepultura]], the world's best known Brazilian metal band; and [[Sarcófago]], one of the founders of modern [[black metal]]. The [[contemporary Christian music]] band [[Diante do Trono]], is also of Belo Horizonte. A short instrumental song by American band [[Earth, Wind & Fire]] is named after the city on their album [[Now, Then & Forever]].

===Museums===
[[File:Museu_de_Arte_da_Pampulha_-_BH.jpg|thumb|Pampulha Art Museum]]

Belo Horizonte features a number of museums including the Mineiro Museum, the Abílio Barreto Historic Museum, Arts and Workmanship Museum, a Natural History Museum and the UFMG [[Botanic Garden]]s, a telephone museum, the Pampulha Art Museum, the Professor Taylor Gramke Mineralogy Museum, and the UFMG Conservatory. The puppet theatre group Giramundo was established here in 1970, and continues to maintain a puppetry museum hosting a collection of their creations.

[[File:Casa_Kubitschek_frente_01.jpg|thumb|[[Kubitschek Residence Museum]]]]
[[File:Memorial Minas Gerais Vale.jpg|thumb|Minas Gerais Vale Memorial]]

The Circuito Cultural Praça da Liberdade, located in the central region of Belo Horizonte, is the largest cultural circuit in Brazil. In all, there are eleven functioning museums and cultural spaces: Arquivo Público Mineiro (Minas Gerais Public Archive), Biblioteca Pública Estadual Luiz de Bessa (Luiz de Bessa State Public Library), Cefar Liberdade, Centro de Arte Popular Cemig (Cemig Center of Popular Art), Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (Culture Center Bank of Brazil), Espaço do Conhecimento UFMG (UFMG Knowledge Space), Horizonte Sebrae – Casa da Economia Criativa (Sebrae Horizon – The House of Creative Economy), Memorial Minas Gerais Vale (Minas Gerais Memorial), Museu das Minas e do Metal (Mines and Metal Museum), Museu Mineiro (Minas Gerais Museum) and [[Palácio da Liberdade]] (Liberty Palace). Besides these, another three spaces are already in the process of being implemented: the Casa Fiat de Cultura (Fiat Culture House), CENA and Oi Futuro. The proposal, according to the Circuit manager, Cristiana Kumaira, is to strengthen the circuit in the world cultural context. "We are already on this path and are being careful to ensure that the activities, services and assistance fulfill the needs and expectations of both the local population and the tourists who come to Belo Horizonte from around the world. The Circuit is establishing itself as one more source of pride for the people of Minas Gerais," she stresses.

[[File:AvenidaAfonsoPena e PalacioDasArtes.jpg|thumb|Palace of Arts Museum]]

Inaugurated in 2010, the Circuito Cultural Praça da Liberdade was created with the goal of exploring [[cultural diversity]], with interactive options open to the public, in an area of great symbolic, historical and architectural value for Belo Horizonte. The opportunity came with the transference of the Minas Gerais Government headquarters to the Cidade Administrativa (Administrative City), in Serra Verde. After they had been adapted, the old department buildings opened their doors and began to house museums and [[cultural space]]s.
The Circuito Cultural Praça da Liberdade is co-managed by the Instituto Sérgio Magnani (Institute) since June 2012, through a partnership signed with the Minas Gerais Government, and the museums/spaces are mostly run by private companies, which carry out investments in heritage recovery and building maintenance. According to Kumaira, this public-private partnership model allows large companies to participate and effectively contribute to the cultural advance of the city. "Beyond their fields of activities, the partners invest in the implantation and maintenance of museums, learning spaces, exhibition halls and shows, as well as memory centers that consolidate the history of Minas Gerais, presenting it either for free or at affordable prices," she adds.
<ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.circuitoculturalliberdade.com.br/plus/modulos/conteudo/index.php?tac=historia&layout=conheca|title=Circuito Cultural Praça da Liberdade – History|last=PLUS|website=Circuito Cultural Praça da Liberdade|access-date=November 24, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151125064315/http://en.circuitoculturalliberdade.com.br/plus/modulos/conteudo/index.php?tac=historia&layout=conheca|archive-date=November 25, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The Natural History Museum and Botanical Garden holds an important treasure of [[folk art]], the Nativity of Pipiripau. Created during the 20th century, the craftsman Raimundo Machado, synchronizes 586 figures, distributed in 45 scenes, which tell the story of life and death of Jesus, mixed with its variety of arts and [[crafts]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mhnjb.ufmg.br/index.html |title=UFMG Museum of Natural History and Botanic Garden |location=Belo Horizonte, Brazil |access-date=September 30, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110917190138/http://www.mhnjb.ufmg.br/index.html |archive-date=September 17, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> With 600,000 sq. m. of green area, the [[Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais|UFMG]] Museum of Natural History and Botanic Garden (MHN-JB) is a privileged ecological space that enables visitors to experience nature in a rich, multidisciplinary way. For 30 years, the mission of the MHN-JB has been to do research, to educate, and to meet the community's demand for service. It covers the areas of [[anthropology]], [[archeology]], Environmental Education, [[Natural History]], [[Mineralogy]], and [[Paleontology]]. It has an Ecological Amphitheater, a Free Art atelier, a [[greenhouse]], and an Interactive Room. One of its traditional exhibitions is the Pipiripau Nativity Crèche.

Palácio das Artes, inaugurated in 1970, comprises three theaters, three [[art galleries]], a movie theater, a bookstore, a coffee shop and photography exhibition space. The building was designed by Oscar Niemeyer and it also houses the Minas Gerais Handcraft Center. The Pampulha Art Museum is located at the Pampulha Lake in Belo Horizonte in a building that originally housed the Pampulha Casino. The building was designed by Oscar Niemeyer, commissioned by the then-mayor and future president of Brazil Juscelino Kubitschek in the early 1940s, with external grounds by landscaper [[Roberto Burle Marx]]. The building was the first project of Oscar Niemeyer, opened as a casino, and closed in 1946. In 1957, it was re-opened as the Art Museum. His design was influenced by the principles of Le Corbusier. The gardens of [[Burle Marx]] are a tribute to the tropical green. There are three sculptures, by Ceschiatti, Zamoiski and José Pedrosa. In 1996, it won new multimedia rooms, library, café bar, a souvenir shop and technical infrastructure. The MAP has an impressive collection of 1,600 works.<ref name="BH_GUIDE">http://www.youblisher.com/files/publications/30/174017/pdf.pdf {{Dead link|date=January 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

===Architecture===
[[File:Oscar Niemeyer's Church of St Francis in Belo Horizonte2.jpg|thumb|upright|left|São Francisco de Assis Church in Pampulha Park]]

Belo Horizonte has several significant cultural landmarks, many of them situated in the [[Pampulha (Belo Horizonte)|Pampulha]] district, where there are notable examples of Brazilian [[contemporary architecture]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dottransfers.com/brazil/belo-horizonte/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140630204053/http://www.dottransfers.com/brazil/belo-horizonte/|url-status=dead|title=Limo Service in Belo Horizonte – Airport Transfers|archivedate=June 30, 2014}}</ref> Under the leadership of the then mayor of city, [[Juscelino Kubitschek]], architects and artists such as [[Oscar Niemeyer]], landscaper [[Burle Marx]], and painter [[Candido Portinari]], started a type of modern architecture and art here that was greatly developed later with the construction of Brazil's new capital, [[Brasília]], also led by the now president Juscelino (aka JK). It is at the [[Pampulha (Belo Horizonte)|Pampulha]] complex that one can see the routes of this new architecture movement. The modern and protomodern architecture can also be seen all over Belo Horizonte, either in emblematic 1950s buildings such as Edificio Acaiaca, Conjunto JK, Hotel Amazonas<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.em.com.br/app/noticia/gerais/2015/07/15/interna_gerais,668573/hotel-no-centro-de-belo-horizonte-abriga-paineis-de-artista-frances.shtml|title=Hotel no Centro de Belo Horizonte abriga painéis de artista francês|first=Estado de|last=Minas|date=July 15, 2015 |access-date=October 13, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150811201813/http://www.em.com.br/app/noticia/gerais/2015/07/15/interna_gerais,668573/hotel-no-centro-de-belo-horizonte-abriga-paineis-de-artista-frances.shtml|archive-date=August 11, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> and former Hotel Excelsior,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.em.com.br/app/noticia/economia/2013/09/18/internas_economia,450154/hotel-excelsior-vira-residencial-no-centro-de-bh.shtml|title=Hotel Excelsior vira residencial no Centro de BH|first=Estado de|last=Minas|access-date=October 13, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161124025004/http://www.em.com.br/app/noticia/economia/2013/09/18/internas_economia,450154/hotel-excelsior-vira-residencial-no-centro-de-bh.shtml|archive-date=November 24, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> all reflecting the modernity culture of the first planned capital of Brazil.

The Pampulha Park area includes one of the largest [[soccer stadium]]s in the world, the [[Mineirão]] stadium, and the [[Church of Saint Francis of Assisi|São Francisco de Assis Church]], widely known as Igreja da Pampulha, designed by Brazilian [[Modern movement|Modernist]] architect [[Oscar Niemeyer]]. In Pampulha there is also the [[Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais]] campus, whose buildings themselves are important contributions to the city's architecture. Other notable buildings include the Mesbla and Niemeyer buildings.

[[File:Ipê na Praça da Liberdade 2 By Sergio Cirino 2006.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Niemeyer Building]] at [[Praça da Liberdade|Liberty Square]]]]

In the downtown area, landmarks include the [[São José Church]], the Praça da Estação (Station Square), which is an old train station that now is also the Museum of Arts and Workmanship, the Municipal Park, the famous Sete de Setembro Square, where an obelisk built in 1922 marks the one hundred years of [[Brazilian independence]] from Portugal.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.reference.com/browse/belo+horizonte|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714185528/http://www.reference.com/browse/belo+horizonte|url-status=dead|title=Downtown BH|archivedate=July 14, 2014}}</ref> Near Central the area, in the Lourdes neighborhood, the Lourdes Basilica, is an example of [[Gothic Revival architecture|Gothic Revival style]]. The Nossa Senhora de Fátima Church, in Santo Agostinho neighborhood, is situated in [[Carlos Chagas]] Square. Both churches are referred to as the Assembléia Church and the Assembléia Square because of their proximity to the state's legislative assembly.
[[File:Edifício Aureliano Chaves (3).jpg|left|thumb|upright|The [[Aureliano Chaves building]], currently the tallest in Belo Horizonte.]]
Next to the downtown region is the Savassi district, known for fine restaurants and as a centre of cultural events as well as the best of the city's [[nightlife]]. Many landmarks are located there, such as the Praça da Liberdade (Liberty Square), and its surrounding buildings, including the former Executive Offices of the governor called the Palácio da Liberdade (Liberty Palace), the first building to be finished during the city's planned development in the late 1890s.

The government offices moved to the "Cidade Administrativa" in 2010. This complex is made by a few massive buildings just outside the city. Nowadays, the "palaces" are being turned into museums. Still on Savassi, the meeting point of many social groups, especially the youth, is "Praça da Savassi" (Savassi Square), which is not exactly a square, and more a crossing between two major avenues ([[Getúlio Vargas]] and Cristóvão Colombo), and gathers some of the busiest bars and pubs (called locally "botecos" or "botequins") in town.

Another important landmark is Praça do Papa (Pope's Square), located at a high point south of the downtown area, with its great view of the entire city. It is named for July 1, 1980, visit by [[John Paul II]], who held a youth mass there. The nearby Parque das Mangabeiras (Mangabeiras Park) features extensive wildlife, and-owing to its considerable size-has its own bus service, which operates solely within the confines of the park. On Sundays, Afonso Pena Avenue hosts Latin America's biggest open-air market. This is the Market of Arts and Handicrafts, most commonly known as Feira Hippie (hippie fair). Every Sunday morning 70,000 visitors find food, drinks, clothes, furniture, earrings, shoes and almost anything else.<ref>{{cite web |author=FeiraHippiebh.com |url=http://www.feirahippiebh.com |title=Feira Hippie WebSite |website=Feirahippiebh.com |access-date=2011-04-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180805011558/http://feirahippiebh.com/ |archive-date=August 5, 2018 |url-status=dead  }}</ref>

{{wide image|Panorama_Pampulha.jpg|1000px|[[Pampulha Modern Ensemble]], a [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Site]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://g1.globo.com/minas-gerais/noticia/2016/07/conjunto-da-pampulha-ganha-titulo-de-patrimonio-mundial-da-unesco.html|title=Conjunto da Pampulha ganha título de Patrimônio Mundial da Unesco|date=July 17, 2016|access-date=November 25, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161022201209/http://g1.globo.com/minas-gerais/noticia/2016/07/conjunto-da-pampulha-ganha-titulo-de-patrimonio-mundial-da-unesco.html|archive-date=October 22, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://veja.abril.com.br/brasil/unesco-coloca-conjunto-da-pampulha-em-lista-de-patrimonio-da-humanidade/|title=Conjunto da Pampulha torna-se Patrimônio da Humanidade - VEJA.com|date=July 17, 2016|access-date=November 25, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160918103610/http://veja.abril.com.br/brasil/unesco-coloca-conjunto-da-pampulha-em-lista-de-patrimonio-da-humanidade/|archive-date=September 18, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/ilustrada/2016/07/1792609-conjunto-da-pampulha-e-declarado-patrimonio-mundial-da-humanidade.shtml|title=Conjunto da Pampulha é declarado Patrimônio Mundial da Humanidade – 17/07/2016 – Ilustrada – Folha de S.Paulo|access-date=November 25, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160925131148/http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/ilustrada/2016/07/1792609-conjunto-da-pampulha-e-declarado-patrimonio-mundial-da-humanidade.shtml|archive-date=September 25, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

[[File:Pao de queijo com cafe.jpg|thumb|[[Pão de queijo]] with coffee is a traditional light meal of Minas Gerais]]

===Food and drink===

The regional Minas Gerais' food and the now internationally known drink of [[cachaça]] are very popular and highly rated in the capital.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.world66.com/southamerica/brazil/belohorizonte/nightlife_and_ente |title=Regional food and drink BH |website=World66.com |date=September 25, 2006 |access-date=2011-04-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514112839/http://www.world66.com/southamerica/brazil/belohorizonte/nightlife_and_ente |archive-date=May 14, 2011 |url-status=dead  }}</ref>

Belo Horizonte is internationally known as the "capital of neighborhood bars."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.boagastronomia.com.br/ |title=Cuisine in Belo Horizonte |website=Belotur.com.br |access-date=2011-04-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181229214315/https://www.boagastronomia.com.br/ |archive-date=December 29, 2018 |url-status=dead  }}</ref>

Every year since 1999, the city hosts the Comida di Buteco festival ("Pub Foods", in an approximate translation), in which a panel selects 41 bars to be visited, and then elects the one with the best appetizers using the theme ingredient of each year.

The Festival is so successful that its brand was already sold to other 21 regions in Brazil (Belém, Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Campinas, Curitiba, Florianópolis, Fortaleza, Goiás, Juiz de Fora, Manaus, Montes Claros, Poços de Caldas, Porto Alegre, Recife, Ribeirão Preto, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, São José do Rio Preto, São Paulo, Uberlândia e Vale do Aço).

The neighborhoods and areas of Savassi, Lourdes, Mercado Central, Santa Tereza and Pampulha concentrate most of the city's restaurants and bars.<ref>[https://guia.melhoresdestinos.com.br/restaurantes-em-belo-horizonte-203-2585-p.html Restaurants and bars in BH]</ref>