Prefeitura Municipal de Belo Horizonte Av. Afonso Pena 1212 Centro
Website:
www.pbh.gov.br
Contact:
scomarh@pbh.gov.br (mailto:scomarh@pbh.gov.br)
Map
Portuguese name meaning beautiful horizon) is among the most important cities in Brazil. It is the capital of Minas Gerais state, located in the southeast of the country. With a population of slightly more than 2 million, Belo Horizonte – or "BH" as it is more familiarly known – is a place of intense economical and cultural activity.
The metropolis was once a small village, founded by a prospector from Portuguese for "Corral of the King"). The farm's wealth and success encouraged more people into the region, and Curral del Rey became a village surrounded by farms. Several of these were built by the Faria family, later to become the first local Methodist preachers and eventually founders of Baptist churches. Belo Horizonte today is the main Evangelical capital of Brazil, being the home to several Brazilian and foreign para_ecclesiastical organisations.
When Brazil became a republic in 1889, Curral Del Rey had grown large enough to be chosen as the site for the new capital of Minas Gerais, replacing the previous state capital of Ouro Preto. The city changed its name to Belo Horizonte sometime before 1894. It was officially declared the capital by the State's legistature on December 12, 1897, the city's official birthdate.
Some time afterwards, an attempt was made to change the city's name Cidade de Minas, but the change was not popular and was soon reverted.
One interesting feature of Belo Horizonte is the downtown street plan, featuring a regular array of perpendicular and diagonal streets designed by town plannerAarão Reis. However, the city's growth — which was especially intense in the last twenty years of the 20th century – far surpassed its planning, and the city now faces a number of infrastructure problems. About 20% of the population has no access to the sewerage network, and floods are a problem in the slums, destroying houses and killing people in the rainy season (November to March).
Places to go
Located in the nearby suburb of Pampulha is a collection of important buildings, including one of the biggest soccer stadiums in Brazil, called Mineirão, and the pretty Capela de São Francisco de Assis (Igreja da Pampulha), designed by the famous Brazilian architect of the modern school, Oscar Niemeyer. Also there is the famous near-downtown area called Savassi, where most gastronomic and cultural activities take place.
BeloHorizonte is also home to all kinds of great food products, including sweets, bottled waters, beef, and the famous Brazilian pão de quejo (cheese bread), which was invented here.
BeloHorizonte, with 3.2 million people is till considered by residents of São Paulo and Rio to be something of a farming town, full of caipiras (country folk) transporting their cattle and chickens to and from the city by mule.
But BeloHorizonte is, in truth, a bustling metropolis with a crowded city center, an international airport, several upscale neighborhoods, and everything you would expect from a major city.
BeloHorizonte has a developed industrial sector, being traditionally a pole of the Brazilian siderurgical and metallurgical industries, as the state of Minas Gerais has always been very rich in minerals, specially iron ore. The main industrial district of the city was set during the 1940s in Contagem, a part of greater BeloHorizonte.
BeloHorizonte has plenty of significant landmarks, many of them situated in the Pampulha district, where there are very symbolic pieces of the Brazilian contemporary architecture.
A very recent contribution to the urban landscape of BeloHorizonte is a giant temple from the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God.
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