Belo Horizonte (, ; ) is the
sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population around 2.7 million and with a metropolitan area of 6 million people. It is the
13th-largest city in South America and the
18th-largest in the Americas. The metropolis is anchor to the
Belo Horizonte metropolitan area, ranked as the
third-most populous metropolitan area in Brazil and the
17th-most populous in the Americas. Belo Horizonte is the capital of
the state
A state is a centralized political organization that imposes and enforces rules over a population within a territory. There is no undisputed definition of a state. One widely used definition comes from the German sociologist Max Weber: a "stat ...
of
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...
, Brazil's
second-most populous state. It is the first planned modern city in Brazil.
The region was first settled in the early 18th century, but the city as it is known today was planned and constructed in the 1890s, to replace
Ouro Preto
Ouro Preto (, ''Black Gold''), formerly Vila Rica (, ''Rich Village''), is a city in and former capital of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, a former colonial mining town located in the Serra do Espinhaço mountains and designated a World Herit ...
as the capital of Minas Gerais. The city features a mixture of contemporary and classical buildings, and is home to several modern Brazilian architectural icons, most notably the
Pampulha Complex. In planning the city, Aarão Reis and Francisco Bicalho sought inspiration in the urban planning of
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
The city has employed notable programs in urban revitalization and
food security
Food security speaks to the availability of food in a country (or geography) and the ability of individuals within that country (geography) to access, afford, and source adequate foodstuffs. According to the United Nations' Committee on World ...
, for which it has been awarded international accolades.
The city is built on several hills, and is completely surrounded by mountains. There are several large parks in the immediate surroundings of Belo Horizonte. The Mangabeiras Park (Parque das Mangabeiras), southeast of the city centre in the hills of Curral Ridge (Serra do Curral), has a broad view of the city. It has an area of , of which is covered by the native forest. The Jambeiro Woods (Mata do Jambeiro) nature reserve extends over , with vegetation typical of the
Atlantic Forest. More than 100 species of birds inhabit the reserve, as well as 10 species of mammals.
Belo Horizonte was one of the host cities of the
1950
Events January
* January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed.
* January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 ...
and the
2014 FIFA World Cup. Additionally, the city shared as host of the
2013 FIFA Confederations Cup and the
football tournament during the
2016 Summer Olympics.
History
Portuguese colonization
The metropolis was once a small village, founded by João Leite da Silva Ortiz, a
bandeirante
The ''Bandeirantes'' (), literally "flag-carriers", were slavers, explorers, adventurers, and fortune hunters in early Colonial Brazil. They are largely responsible for Brazil's great expansion westward, far beyond the Tordesillas Line of 149 ...
explorer from
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...
. The explorer settled in the region in 1701, leading a gold rush expedition. He then established a farm called "Curral d'el Rey," archaic Portuguese for the "King's Corral," which in modern Portuguese would be spelled ''Curral do Rei''.
The farm's wealth and success encouraged people from surrounding places to move into the region, and Curral del Rey became a village surrounded by
farm
A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used ...
s.
Another important factor contributing to the growth of the village was people immigrating from the
São Francisco River region, who had to pass through Curral d'el Rey to reach southern parts of Brazil.
Travelers usually visited a small wooden chapel, where they prayed for a safe trip, so the chapel was named Capela da Nossa Senhora da Boa Viagem, which means "Chapel of Our Lady of the Good Journey." After the construction of Belo Horizonte, the old baroque chapel was replaced by a
neo-gothic
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
church that became the city's
cathedral
A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...
.
Brazilian Empire and Republic
![Inauguracaobh](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Inauguracaobh.jpg)
The previous capital of Minas Gerais,
Ouro Preto
Ouro Preto (, ''Black Gold''), formerly Vila Rica (, ''Rich Village''), is a city in and former capital of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, a former colonial mining town located in the Serra do Espinhaço mountains and designated a World Herit ...
(meaning "black gold," due to dark rocks with gold inside found on the region), originally called "Vila Rica" ("wealthy village"), was a symbol of both the monarchic
Brazilian Empire
The Empire of Brazil was a 19th-century state that broadly comprised the territories which form modern Brazil and (until 1828) Uruguay. Its government was a representative parliamentary constitutional monarchy under the rule of Emperors Dom P ...
and the period when most of Brazilian income was due to mining. That never pleased the members of the
Inconfidência Mineira, republican intellectuals who conspired against the Portuguese dominion of Brazil.
In 1889, Brazil became a republic, and it was agreed that a new state capital, in tune with a modern and prosperous Minas Gerais, had to be established.
In 1893, due to the climatic and topographic conditions, Curral Del Rey was selected by Minas Gerais governor
Afonso Pena among other cities as the location for the new economic and cultural center of the state, under the new name of ''Cidade de Minas'', or City of Minas.
, an
urbanist
Urbanism is the study of how inhabitants of urban areas, such as towns and cities, interact with the built environment. It is a direct component of disciplines such as urban planning, which is the profession focusing on the physical design and m ...
from
Pará
Pará is a state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas and Roraima. To the northwest are the borders of Guyana ...
, was then chosen to design the second
planned city
A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...
of Brazil (the first one is
Teresina
Teresina is the capital and most populous municipality in the Brazilian state of Piauí. Being located in north-central Piauí 366 km from the coast, it is the only capital in the Brazilian Northeast that is not located on the shores of t ...
). Cidade de Minas was inaugurated in 1897, with many unfinished buildings as the
Brazilian government
The politics of Brazil take place in a framework of a federal presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. The political and administrative o ...
set a deadline for its completion. The local government encouraged growth through subsidies. It offered free lots and funding for building houses. An interesting feature of Reis' downtown street plan for Belo Horizonte was the inclusion of a symmetrical array of perpendicular and diagonal streets named after
Brazilian states
Brazilian commonly refers to:
* Something of, from or relating to Brazil
* Brazilian Portuguese, the dialect of the Portuguese language used mostly in Brazil
* Brazilians, the people (citizens) of Brazil, or of Brazilian descent
Brazilian may also ...
and Brazilian
indigenous
Indigenous may refer to:
*Indigenous peoples
*Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention
*Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band
*Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...
tribes.
In 1906, the name was changed to Belo Horizonte. At that time, the city was experiencing a considerable
industrial expansion that increased its commercial and
service sectors. From its very beginning, the city's original plan prohibited workers from living inside the urban area, which was defined by Avenida do Contorno (a long avenue that goes around the city's central areas).
Reserved for government workers (hence the name of the trendy neighbourhood "Funcionários"), and bringing about an accelerated occupation outside the city's area well provided with infrastructure since its very beginning. Obviously, the city's original planners did not count on its ongoing population growth, which proved especially intense in the last 20 years of the 20th century.
In the 1940s, a young
Oscar Niemeyer
Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho (15 December 1907 – 5 December 2012), known as Oscar Niemeyer (), was a Brazilian architect considered to be one of the key figures in the development of modern architecture. Niemeyer was ...
designed the Pampulha Neighbourhood to great acclaim, a commission he got thanks to then-mayor and soon-to-be-president
Juscelino Kubitschek
Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira (; 12 September 1902 – 22 August 1976), also known by his initials JK, was a prominent Brazilian politician who served as the 21st president of Brazil from 1956 to 1961. His term was marked by economic prosp ...
. These two men are largely responsible for the wide
avenue
Avenue or Avenues may refer to:
Roads
* Avenue (landscape), traditionally a straight path or road with a line of trees, in the shifted sense a tree line itself, or some of boulevards (also without trees)
* Avenue Road, Bangalore
* Avenue Road, ...
s, large lakes, parks, and jutting skylines that characterize the city today. A 1949 American government film favorably reviewed the planning and building of the city.
Belo Horizonte is fast becoming a regional center of commerce. The Latin American research and development center of
Google
Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
, situated in Belo Horizonte, was responsible for the management and operation of the former
social networking website
Orkut
Orkut was a social networking service owned and operated by Google. The service was designed to help users meet new and old friends and maintain existing relationships. The website was named after its creator, Google employee Orkut Büyükkök ...
. It continues to be a trendsetter in the arts, particularly where music, literature, architecture, and the ''avant garde'' are concerned.
Geography
Surrounding cities and metropolitan area
![Belo Horizonte at night](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Belo_Horizonte_at_night.jpg)
The term "Grande BH" ("Greater Belo Horizonte") denotes any of various definitions for the metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte. The legally defined ''Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte'' consists of 34 municipalities in total, and a population of around six million inhabitants (, according to Brazil's National Institute of Geography and Statistics (
IBGE
The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics ( pt, Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística; IBGE) is the agency responsible for official collection of statistical, geographic, cartographic, geodetic and environmental information ...
)).
The intense process of urbanization that is taking place in the metropolitan region has made some of the political boundaries between municipalities in the region obsolete.
The city is now composed of a relatively contiguous urban area, centred on Belo Horizonte, which extends out into municipalities such as
Contagem
Contagem () is a city in the center of the state of Minas Gerais, in Brazil. It is only from the capital, Belo Horizonte, and forms part of a metropolitan area with a population of 4.8 million.
Geography
The city belongs to the metropolitan meso ...
,
Betim
Betim is a town in Minas Gerais, Brazil. It is located at around . The city belongs to the mesoregion Metropolitan of Belo Horizonte (BH) and to the microregion of Belo Horizonte. It is the fifth largest city in Minas Gerais and one of the 50 larg ...
,
Nova Lima
Nova Lima is a municipality of about 87,000 people, whose downtown is located about 20 kilometers south of Belo Horizonte, the capital of the south-eastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. Mining is one of the main economical activities of the ...
,
Raposos
Raposos is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Minas Gerais. The city belongs to the mesoregion Metropolitana de Belo Horizonte and to the microregion of Belo Horizonte.
Geography
The municipality contains the Raposos gold mines open ...
,
Ribeirão das Neves,
Ibirité
Ibirité is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Minas Gerais. The city belongs to the mesoregion Metropolitana de Belo Horizonte and to the microregion of Belo Horizonte. Its population in 2020 was 182,153.
History
Ibirité was bor ...
,
Santa Luzia and
Sabará
Sabará is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Minas Gerais. The city belongs to the Belo Horizonte metropolitan region and to the associated microregion.
It is a well preserved historic city and retains the characteristics of a ...
, among others.
The municipality is bounded to the north by
Vespasiano
Vespasiano is a municipality in the Belo Horizonte metropolitan region in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, located north of Belo Horizonte.
Vespasiano is home to Cidade do Galo, the training grounds of Campeonato Brasileiro Série A t ...
, to the north east by Santa Luzia, by Sabará to the east, by Nova Lima to the southeast,
Brumadinho
Brumadinho () is a Brazilian municipality in the state of Minas Gerais. The city belongs to the Belo Horizonte metropolitan mesoregion and to the microregion of Belo Horizonte. Brumadinho is at an altitude of 880 m. In 2020 the population wa ...
to the south and Ribeirão das Neves, Contagem and
Ibirité
Ibirité is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Minas Gerais. The city belongs to the mesoregion Metropolitana de Belo Horizonte and to the microregion of Belo Horizonte. Its population in 2020 was 182,153.
History
Ibirité was bor ...
to the west.
According to the current
geographic classification by IBGE, the municipality belongs to the
Immediate Geographic Region of Belo Horizonte, in the
Intermediate Geographic Region of Belo Horizonte
The Intermediate Geographic Region of Belo Horizonte (code 3101) is one of the 13 intermediate geographic regions in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais and one of the 134 of Brazil, created by the National Institute of Geography and Statistics ...
.
Geology and geomorphology
Belo Horizonte lies on a region of contact between different geological series of the
Proterozoic. The geology largely comprises
crystalline rock
A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macros ...
s, which give rise to the varied morphology of the landscape. It is located in a large geological unit known as the
craton
A craton (, , or ; from grc-gre, κράτος "strength") is an old and stable part of the continental lithosphere, which consists of Earth's two topmost layers, the crust and the uppermost mantle. Having often survived cycles of merging an ...
of
São Francisco, referring to extensive crustal nucleus of central-eastern Brazil, tectonically stable at the end of the
Paleoproterozoic
The Paleoproterozoic Era (;, also spelled Palaeoproterozoic), spanning the time period from (2.5–1.6 Ga), is the first of the three sub-divisions ( eras) of the Proterozoic Eon. The Paleoproterozoic is also the longest era of the Earth's ...
and bordering areas that suffered the regeneration at the
Neoproterozoic
The Neoproterozoic Era is the unit of geologic time from 1 billion to 538.8 million years ago.
It is the last era of the Precambrian Supereon and the Proterozoic Eon; it is subdivided into the Tonian, Cryogenian, and Ediacaran periods. It is prec ...
.
The
archean
The Archean Eon ( , also spelled Archaean or Archæan) is the second of four geologic eons of Earth's history, representing the time from . The Archean was preceded by the Hadean Eon and followed by the Proterozoic.
The Earth during the Arc ...
rocks members of Belo Horizonte complex and supracrustal sequences of the Paleoproterozoic is predominant. The area of Belo Horizonte complex includes the geomorphological unit called ''Depression of Belo Horizonte'', which represents about 70% of the municipality area and has its greatest expression in the northern
Ribeirão Arrudas
Arrudas is a stream that begins its course in Contagem and goes down through Belo Horizonte in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. It is one of the source of Das Velhas River Rio das Velhas in Sabará. Ribeirão Arrudas is formed by many streams ...
pipeline. The
metasedimentary
In geology, metasedimentary rock is a type of metamorphic rock. Such a rock was first formed through the deposition and solidification of sediment
Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and e ...
rocks has its area of occurrence on the south of Ribeirão Arrudas pipeline, constituting about 30% of the area of Belo Horizonte. The characteristics of this area are lithological diversities and rugged topography, which has its maximum expression in the ''Serra do Curral'' (Corral Ridge), the southern boundary of the municipality.
Its soil comprises a succession of layers of rocks of varied composition, represented by
itabirite
Itabirite, also known as banded-quartz hematite and hematite schist, is a laminated, metamorphosed oxide-facies iron formation in which the original chert or jasper bands have been recrystallized into megascopically distinguishable grains of quar ...
,
dolomite Dolomite may refer to:
*Dolomite (mineral), a carbonate mineral
*Dolomite (rock), also known as dolostone, a sedimentary carbonate rock
*Dolomite, Alabama, United States, an unincorporated community
*Dolomite, California, United States, an unincor ...
,
quartzite
Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tec ...
,
phyllite
Phyllite ( ) is a type of foliated metamorphic rock created from slate that is further metamorphosed so that very fine grained white mica achieves a preferred orientation.Stephen Marshak ''Essentials of Geology'', 3rd ed. It is primarily compo ...
s and
schist
Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes ...
s different from the general direction northwest–southeast and dip to the southeast. The hills of Belo Horizonte are part of the
Espinhaço Mountains
The Espinhaço Mountains (, ) are a mountain range in Brazil. The range runs roughly north and south through the states of Minas Gerais and Bahia, extending for approximately . It forms the divide between the upper watershed of the São Francisco ...
and belong to the larger Itacolomi mountain chain. The highest point in the municipality is in the ''Serra do Curral'', reaching .
Parks
![PESRM - Parque Estadual da Serra do Rola Moça](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/PESRM_-_Parque_Estadual_da_Serra_do_Rola_Mo%C3%A7a.jpg)
A centre for conservation and preservation of animals and plants it has also developed environmental education projects. The Zoo, which encompasses a total area of 1.4 million square meters, is located at the Foundation's headquarters and is regarded as one of the most complete in Latin America. It has a collection of close to 900 animals representing 200 species, from Brazil and other parts of the world, as well as the first public butterfly sanctuary in South America.
Pampulha Ecological Park is administered by the Zoo-Botanical Foundation of Belo Horizonte and was inaugurated on May 21, 2004. It is of green area that offers to the population and the tourists a permanent programming of
environmental
A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...
, cultural and patrimonial education.
The city contains the
Baleia State Park
The Baleia State Park ( pt, Parque Estadual da Baleia) is a state park in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil.
It protects a rugged area in the cerrado biome near the state capital of Belo Horizonte. As of 2014 nothing had been done to implement t ...
, created in 1988 but still not implemented as of 2014.
It contains part of the
Serra do Rola-Moça State Park
The Serra do Rola-Moça State Park ( pt, Parque Estadual da Serra do Rola-Moça) is a state park in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil.
It protects a rugged area in the transition zone between cerrado and Atlantic Forest. Springs in the park are imp ...
, created in 1994.
Climate
![Tempestade BH](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Tempestade_BH.jpg)
Belo Horizonte's has a
latitude
In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...
at 19'55" in the South
tropical zone
The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in
the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred ...
. Yearly temperatures average between . The
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
of the region is
tropical savanna climate
Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of p ...
(''Aw''), milder due to the elevation, with humid/warm summers and dry/mild winters. Belo Horizonte is located about from the sea.
Even though inter-seasonal differences are not as pronounced as they are in temperate places, there is a contrast between spring and summer, and between fall and winter. The coldest month is generally July, with a lowest recorded temperature of . The hottest month is usually January, with a highest recorded temperature of .
With an elevation of , Belo Horizonte is cooled considerably by the relatively high elevation, which suppresses high maximum air temperatures experienced in nearby cities at lower altitudes. Belo Horizonte's climate is mild throughout the year. Temperatures vary between , the average being . Winter is dry and mostly sunny, and summer is rainy.
Demographics
Ethnic groups
According to the
2010 IBGE Census, there were 2,258,096 people residing in the city of Belo Horizonte. The census revealed the following numbers: 1,110,034
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...
people (46.7%), 995,167
Pardo
''Pardos'' (feminine ''pardas'') is a term used in the former Portuguese and Spanish colonies in the Americas to refer to the triracial descendants of Southern Europeans, Amerindians and West Africans. In some places they were defined as ne ...
(
Multiracial) people (41.9%), 241,155
Black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...
people (10.2%), 25,270
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
people (1.1%), 3,477
Amerindian
The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples.
Many Indigenous peoples of the A ...
people (0.1%).
In 2010, the city had 428,893 opposite-sex couples and 1,090
same-sex couple
A same-sex relationship is a romantic or sexual relationship between people of the same sex. ''Same-sex marriage'' refers to the institutionalized recognition of such relationships in the form of a marriage; civil unions may exist in countries ...
s. The population of Belo Horizonte was 53.1% female and 46.9% male.
The Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte, called
Greater Belo Horizonte
Greater Belo Horizonte, Brazil, is the name usually used to describe the Belo Horizonte metropolitan region, which is composed of 34 municipalities. As of 2013, it is the third largest metropolitan area of Brazil with more than Six million inhabi ...
, is the
3rd most populous of Brazil, after only
Greater São Paulo
Greater São Paulo ( pt, Grande São Paulo) is a nonspecific term for one of the multiple definitions of the large metropolitan area located in the São Paulo state in Brazil.
Definitions
Metropolitan Area
A legally defined specific term, ''Reg ...
(with 19,672,582 people, first in Brazil and
5th in the world) and
Greater Rio de Janeiro
Greater Rio de Janeiro, officially the Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Region (''Grande Rio'', officially ''Região Metropolitana do Rio de Janeiro'', in Portuguese) is a large metropolitan area located in Rio de Janeiro state in Brazil, the se ...
(with 14,387,000 people). The city is the
6th most populous of the country.
During the 18th century, Minas Gerais received many
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
immigrants, mainly from
Northern Portugal
The North Region ( pt, Região do Norte ) or Northern Portugal is the most populous region in Portugal, ahead of Lisbon Region, Lisbon, and the third most extensive by area. The region has 3,576,205 inhabitants according to the 2017 census, and its ...
as well as many enslaved Africans.
Belo Horizonte has a notable
Italian influence; around 30% of the city's population have some
Italian origin. The
Italian culture is present in the cuisine, dance, and language. People of
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
,
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
, and
Syrian-Lebanese ancestries also make up sizeable groups.
Religion
![Paróquia_Nossa_Senhora_da_Boa_Viagem_-_panoramio](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Par%C3%B3quia_Nossa_Senhora_da_Boa_Viagem_-_panoramio.jpg)
''Source:
IBGE
The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics ( pt, Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística; IBGE) is the agency responsible for official collection of statistical, geographic, cartographic, geodetic and environmental information ...
2010. ''
Human development
![Praca_da_Liberdade_BH_17_Jan_2019_02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Praca_da_Liberdade_BH_17_Jan_2019_02.jpg)
In 1993, under mayor Patrus Ananias de Souza, the city started a series of innovations based on its citizens having the "
right to food
The right to food, and its variations, is a human right protecting the right of people to feed themselves in dignity, implying that sufficient food is available, that people have the means to access it, and that it adequately meets the individual ...
." These include, for example, creating
farmers' market
A farmers' market (or farmers market according to the AP stylebook, also farmer's market in the Cambridge Dictionary) is a physical retail marketplace intended to sell foods directly by farmers to consumers. Farmers' markets may be indoors or o ...
s in the town to enable direct sales and regularly surveying market prices and posting the results across the city. The city's process of
participatory budgeting
Participatory budgeting (PB) is a type of citizen sourcing in which ordinary people decide how to allocate part of a municipal or public budget through a process of democratic deliberation and decision-making. Participatory budgeting allows ...
was linked with these innovations, as a result of which the
infant mortality rate
Infant mortality is the death of young children under the age of 1. This death toll is measured by the infant mortality rate (IMR), which is the probability of deaths of children under one year of age per 1000 live births. The under-five morta ...
was reduced by 50% in a decade.
[M. Jahi Chappell, 2018, ]
Beginning to end hunger: Food and the environment in Belo Horizonte, Brazil and beyond
'. Berkeley: University of California Press.
There is some evidence that these programs have helped support a higher quality of life for the local farmers partnering with the city and that this may be having positive effects on biodiversity in the Atlantic rainforest around the city.
The city's development of these policies garnered the first "Future Policy Award" in 2009, awarded by the
World Future Council
The World Future Council (WFC) is a German non-profit foundation with its headquarters in Hamburg. It works to pass on a healthy and sustainable planet with just and peaceful societies to future generations.
FuturePolicy.org
The website f ...
, a group of 50 activists (including
Frances Moore Lappé
Frances Moore Lappé (born February 10, 1944) is an American researcher and author in the area of food and democracy policy. She is the author of 19 books including the three-million-copy selling 1971 book '' Diet for a Small Planet'', which the ...
,
Vandana Shiva
Vandana Shiva (born 5 November 1952) is an Indian scholar, environmental activist, food sovereignty advocate, ecofeminist and anti-globalisation author. Based in Delhi, Shiva has written more than 20 books. She is often referred to as "Gandh ...
,
Wes Jackson
Wes Jackson (born 1936) co-founded the Land Institute with Dana Jackson. He is also a member of the World Future Council.
Early life and education
Jackson was born and raised on a farm near Topeka, Kansas. After earning a BA in biology from K ...
, and
Youssou N'Dour
Youssou N'Dour (, wo, Yuusu Nduur; also known as Youssou Madjiguène Ndour; born 1 October 1959) is a Senegalese singer, songwriter, musician, composer, occasional actor, businessman, and politician. In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine describe ...
) concerned with the development and recognition of policies to promote a just and sustainable future.
The city has undertaken an internationally heralded project called Vila Viva ("Living Village" in Portuguese) that promises to "urbanize" the poorest areas (''
favela
Favela () is an umbrella name for several types of working-class neighborhoods in Brazil. The term was first used in the Providência neighborhood in the center of Rio de Janeiro in the late 19th century, which was built by soldiers who had ...
s''), relocating families from areas with high risk of floods and landslides but keeping them in the same neighborhood, paving main avenues to allow public transportation, police and postal service to have access. All the work is done with 80% of locals, reducing unemployment and increasing family income.
Former mayor
Fernando da Mata Pimentel was nominated for
World Mayor
World Mayor is a biennial award organized by the City Mayors Foundation since 2004. It intends to raise the profile of mayors worldwide, as well as honour those who have served their communities well and who have contributed to the well-being of c ...
in 2005 on the strength of these and other programs.
Economy
![Praça_ABC_-_panoramio_(cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Pra%C3%A7a_ABC_-_panoramio_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Belo Horizonte receives large numbers of visitors, as it is in the Brazilian main economic axis, exerting influence even on other states. Multinational and Brazilian companies, such as
Google
Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
,
Deloitte
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of professio ...
,
Thoughtworks,
Localiza and
Oi, maintain offices in the city. The service sector plays a very important role in the economy of Belo Horizonte, being responsible for 85% of the city's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), with other industry making up most of the remaining 15%. Belo Horizonte has a developed industrial sector, being traditionally a hub of the Brazilian
siderurgical and
metallurgical
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys.
Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...
industries, as the state of Minas Gerais has always been very rich in
minerals
In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed ...
, specifically iron ore.
Belo Horizonte is the distribution and processing centre of a rich agricultural and mining region and the nucleus of a burgeoning industrial complex. Production is centred on steel, steel products,
automobile
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods.
The year 1886 is regarde ...
s, and textiles. Gold,
manganese
Manganese is a chemical element with the symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of industrial alloy use ...
, and
gemstones mined in the surrounding region are processed in the city.
The main industrial district of the city was set during the 1940s in
Contagem
Contagem () is a city in the center of the state of Minas Gerais, in Brazil. It is only from the capital, Belo Horizonte, and forms part of a metropolitan area with a population of 4.8 million.
Geography
The city belongs to the metropolitan meso ...
, a part of greater Belo Horizonte. Multinational companies like
FIAT (which opened its plant in Betim in 1974),
Arcelor
Arcelor S.A. was the world's largest steel producer in terms of turnover and the second largest in terms of steel output, with a turnover of €30.2 billion and shipments of 45 million metric tons of steel in 2004. The company was created in 2002 ...
, and
Toshiba
, commonly known as Toshiba and stylized as TOSHIBA, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure systems, ...
have subsidiaries in the region, along with textiles like Group Rachelle Textil, Ematex and Cedro Textil,
cosmetic, food,
chemicals
A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., wit ...
,
pharmaceuticals,
furnishing and
refractory
In materials science, a refractory material or refractory is a material that is resistant to decomposition by heat, pressure, or chemical attack, and retains strength and form at high temperatures. Refractories are polycrystalline, polyphase, ...
companies. Among the companies headquartered in the city are steel producer Açominas (held by
Gerdau
Gerdau is the largest producer of long steel in the Americas, with steel mills in Brazil, Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Peru, United States, Uruguay and Venezuela. Currently, Gerdau has an installed capacity of 26 mill ...
, one of the largest multinationals originated in Brazil);
Usiminas
Usiminas is one of the largest producers of steel in the Americas, with major steel mills in Brazil with a total capacity of 9.5 million metric tons of steel per year. The company accounts for 28% of total steel output in Brazil.
Usiminas has a ...
; Belgo-Mineira (held by
Arcelor
Arcelor S.A. was the world's largest steel producer in terms of turnover and the second largest in terms of steel output, with a turnover of €30.2 billion and shipments of 45 million metric tons of steel in 2004. The company was created in 2002 ...
);
Acesita (partially held by Arcelor); mobile communication
Vivo; and
Telecom Italia Mobile
Gruppo TIM, legally TIM S.p.A. (formerly Telecom Italia S.p.A.), also known as the TIM Group in English, is an Italian telecommunications company with headquarters in Rome, Milan, and Naples, (with the Telecom Italia Tower) which provides fixe ...
, Dasein Executive Search, executive coaching company, as well as the
NYSE
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its liste ...
-listed electrical company
CEMIG
CEMIG is a Brazilian power company headquartered in Belo Horizonte capital of the state of Minas Gerais. The company is one of main electricity concessionaires in Brazil, headquartered in the city of Belo Horizonte, capital of the state of Minas G ...
. Leading steel product makers Sumitomo Metals of Japan and Vallourec of France also have plans to construct an integrated steel works on the outskirts of the city.
There are also a large number of small enterprises in the technology sector with regional to nationwide success, particularly in the fields of
computing
Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and development of both hardware and software. Computing has scientific, ...
and biotechnology. Because of both governmental and private funding in the diversification of its economy, the city has become an international reference in Information Technology and
Biotechnology
Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used ...
, and is also cited because of the advanced corporate and university research in
Biodiesel
Biodiesel is a form of diesel fuel derived from plants or animals and consisting of long-chain fatty acid esters. It is typically made by chemically reacting lipids such as animal fat ( tallow), soybean oil, or some other vegetable oil ...
fuel. The number of jobs in the Information sector has been growing at annual rates above 50%. The Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Area, composed of 33 cities under the capital's direct influence, is home to 16% of the country's biotechnology companies, with annual sales of over R$550 million.
Projects in these fields are likely to expand because of integration between universities, the oil company
Petrobras and the
Brazilian Government
The politics of Brazil take place in a framework of a federal presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. The political and administrative o ...
. One of the largest events that ever took place in the city, the
Inter-American Development Bank meeting, occurred in 2005 and attracted people from all over the world.
For a long time it was marked by the predominance of its
industrial sector, but from the 1990s there has been a constant expansion of the
service sector economy, particularly in
computer science
Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (includi ...
,
biotechnology
Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used ...
,
business tourism
Business tourism or business travel is a more limited and focused subset of regular tourism. During business tourism (traveling), individuals are still working and being paid, but are doing so away from both their workplace and home.
Some definiti ...
, fashion and the jewelry-making. The city is considered to be a strategic leader in the
Brazilian economy
The economy of Brazil is historically the largest in Latin America and the Southern Hemisphere in nominal terms. The Brazilian economy is the third largest in the Americas. The economy is a middle income developing mixed economy. In 2022, acc ...
. The move towards
business tourism
Business tourism or business travel is a more limited and focused subset of regular tourism. During business tourism (traveling), individuals are still working and being paid, but are doing so away from both their workplace and home.
Some definiti ...
transformed the capital into a national hub for this segment of the
tourist industry
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mo ...
.
* In 2008, the city's GDP was
R$42 billion (or about
US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
26,2 billion).
* In 2008, the
Greater Belo Horizonte
Greater Belo Horizonte, Brazil, is the name usually used to describe the Belo Horizonte metropolitan region, which is composed of 34 municipalities. As of 2013, it is the third largest metropolitan area of Brazil with more than Six million inhabi ...
's GDP was
R$98,5 billion (or about
US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
61 billion).
* In 2008, the city's per capita income was
R$17,313 (or
US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
10,820). In 2007, it was R$15,830
[http://www.pnbonline.com.br/display.asp?id=36736 ] (about US$9,893).
Government and politics
Education
Educational institutions
Several higher education institutions are located in Belo Horizonte, including:
*
Baptist College of Minas Gerais
*
Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica de Minas Gerais (CEFET-MG)
* Centro Universitário de Belo Horizonte (UNI-BH)
* Centro Universitário Newton Paiva
* Centro Universitário (UNA)
* Escola Superior Dom Helder Câmara – Especializada em Direito
* Faculdade Jesuíta de Filosofia e Teologia (FAJE)
* Faculdade Pitágoras de Belo Horizonte (FP-BH)
* Faculdades Kennedy (FKBH)
* Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Minas Gerais (IFMG)
*
Skema Business School
SKEMA Business School (School of Knowledge Economy and Management) is a French business school, devoted to higher education and research. It has the legal status of a non-profit association under the French "1901 law". It was founded in 2009 as a ...
(SK)
*
Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais (PUC-MG)
*
Universidade do Estado de Minas Gerais
The State University of Minas Gerais. ( pt, Universidade do Estado de Minas Gerais, UEMG) is a Brazilian public university. It is the third largest university in the state of Minas Gerais, second only to the Federal University of Minas Gerais a ...
(UEMG) (State University of Minas Gerais)
*
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
The Federal University of Minas Gerais ( pt, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, UFMG) is a federalIn the Brazilian Higher Education context, ''Federal'' does not mean ''collegiate'' (even though most Federal Universities in Brazil enjoy a sim ...
(UFMG)
* Universidade José do Rosário Vellano (UNIFENAS)
*
Universidade FUMEC (FUMEC)
* Universidade Cruzeiro do Sul Educacional
Transport
Airports
Belo Horizonte is served by three airports:
*
Tancredo Neves/Confins International Airport, dedicated to domestic and international traffic. It is located in the municipalities of
Lagoa Santa and
Confins
Confins is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Minas Gerais. Its population as of 2020 is estimated to be 6,800 people. The area of the municipality is 42.008 km². The city belongs to the mesoregion Metropolitana de Belo Horizon ...
, from Belo Horizonte, and was opened in January 1984. Plans for gradual expansion to meet growing demand had been already drawn up from the airport's inception. The airport has one of the lowest rates of shutdown for bad weather in the country. It ran at limited capacity until 2005, when a large proportion of Pampulha Airport air traffic was transferred to Confins. There are direct international flights to/from
Fort Lauderdale
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
,
Orlando
Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...
,
Lisbon,
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
and
Panama City
Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...
.
*
Pampulha – Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport, dedicated to domestic traffic;
*
Carlos Prates Airport, dedicated to general aviation.
Highways
The city is connected to the rest of Minas Gerais state and the country by a number of roadways.
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...
has the country's largest federal highway network.
*
BR-040
BR-040 is a federal highway of Brazil. The road connects Brasilia to Rio de Janeiro.
BR-040 Highway, Brazil
The starting point of the highway is in Brasília at the junction with the BR-450 (Via EPIA) and BR-251 (Via EPCT). The road ends at Pra ...
connects Belo Horizonte to
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...
(going south) and
Brasília
Brasília (; ) is the federal capital of Brazil and seat of government of the Federal District. The city is located at the top of the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West region. It was founded by President Juscelino Kubitsche ...
(going northwest). It also links other cities in the state, such as
Juiz de Fora
Juiz de Fora (, '' Outsider Judge''), also known as J.F., is a city in the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, approximately from the state border with Rio de Janeiro. According to 2020 estimates the current population is about 57 ...
,
Conselheiro Lafaiete
Conselheiro Lafaiete is a city of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. It was known as Queluz until 1934, when it was renamed by decree, as a tribute to Counselor Lafayette Rodrigues Pereira
It is situated 96 km south from Belo Horizonte, cap ...
,
Barbacena
Barbacena is a municipality in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. As of 2020, the municipality had 138,204 inhabitants. The total area of the municipality is .
It is in the foothills of the Serra da Mantiqueira south of the state capital Belo ...
,
Sete Lagoas
Sete Lagoas (meaning 'Seven Lagoons' in Portuguese) is a city in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. The municipal area is 537;km² while the population was 241,835 in 2020.
Location
Sete Lagoas is situated about 70 kilometres from Belo Horizo ...
, and
Paracatu.
*
BR-262
BR-262 is an east-west highway connecting the Brazilian states of Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, São Paulo and Mato Grosso do Sul.
The highway runs from Vitória state capital of Espírito Santo to the Bolivian border at Corumbá, Mato Grosso ...
begins in
Mato Grosso do Sul and ends in
Espírito Santo
Espírito Santo (, , ; ) is a state in southeastern Brazil. Its capital is Vitória, and its largest city is Serra. With an extensive coastline, the state hosts some of the country's main ports, and its beaches are significant tourist attra ...
, crossing
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...
from west to east. It links Belo Horizonte to
Pará de Minas,
Araxá,
Manhuaçu
Manhuaçu is a municipality in Eastern Minas Gerais state, in Brazil. Its population was 91,169 (2020) and its area is 628 km2.
Location
Located 260 km from the state capital of Belo Horizonte, it is near the important road junction of BR 2 ...
,
Uberaba
Uberaba () is a city in the state of Minas Gerais, southeast Brazil. It is located in the Brazilian Highlands at above sea level on the Uberaba River, and away from the state capital, Belo Horizonte. The city status was granted in 1856, and i ...
,
Governador Valadares
Governador Valadares is a Brazilian municipality in the countryside of Minas Gerais. In 2020, its population was 281,046 inhabitants, thus being the ninth most populated city in the state. It is an economical axis of the middle valley of the Doce R ...
, and
Vitória, the capital of
Espírito Santo
Espírito Santo (, , ; ) is a state in southeastern Brazil. Its capital is Vitória, and its largest city is Serra. With an extensive coastline, the state hosts some of the country's main ports, and its beaches are significant tourist attra ...
state.
*
BR-381 is an important federal highway. It connects Belo Horizonte to
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...
.
*
MG-010
MG-010 is a state highway in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Its total length is 307.9 kilometers. Its route starts in Belo Horizonte and ends in the municipality of Rio Vermelho. Since the construction of the Belo Horizonte International Airport, in the mun ...
is a state highway that connects the capital to the
Tancredo Neves International Airport
Belo Horizonte/Confins – Tancredo Neves International Airport , formerly called Confins International Airport is the primary international airport serving Belo Horizonte. Since 2 September 1986 the airport is named after Tancredo de Almeida N ...
, itself located in the municipalities of Confins and Lagoa Santa, which are part of the metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte. Starting in 2005, several flights were transferred from the
Pampulha Regional Airport to the international airport. To improve access to the international airport, MG-010 is being expanded (effectively duplicating its lanes).
The city is also served by other minor roads such as state highways MG-020, MG-050, MG-030, and MG-433. There is also an East-West Express Way, which goes from the city to the nearby industrial centres of
Contagem
Contagem () is a city in the center of the state of Minas Gerais, in Brazil. It is only from the capital, Belo Horizonte, and forms part of a metropolitan area with a population of 4.8 million.
Geography
The city belongs to the metropolitan meso ...
and
Betim
Betim is a town in Minas Gerais, Brazil. It is located at around . The city belongs to the mesoregion Metropolitan of Belo Horizonte (BH) and to the microregion of Belo Horizonte. It is the fifth largest city in Minas Gerais and one of the 50 larg ...
(together having a population of ca. 900,000), and Anel Rodoviário, a kind of "beltway" – indeed it is not circumferential, but connects many highways, such as the federal (BR-ones) so it is not necessary for a large number of cars and trucks to pass through the city centre. Many of these roads are in poor condition, but in the last years many revitalization and rebuilding projects have been started.
Bus system
The bus system has a large number of bus lines going through all parts in the city, and is administrated by ''BHTRANS''. Among the upcoming projects are the expansion of the integration between bus lines and the
metro
Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to:
Geography
* Metro (city), a city in Indonesia
* A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center
Public transport
* Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urb ...
, with integrated stations, many already in use. And the construction of bus corridors, with lanes and bus stops exclusively for the bus lines. Keeping buses from traffic congestions, making the trips more viable for commuters.
Railways
Belo Horizonte Metro
Belo Horizonte Metro ( pt, Metrô de Belo Horizonte) is a rapid transit system serving the city of Belo Horizonte, in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil. The system has one line which serves 19 stations. The Metro carried 54.4 million passenge ...
or MetroBH started operating at the end of the 1970s. There is one line, with 19 stations, from Vilarinho to Eldorado Station, in
Contagem
Contagem () is a city in the center of the state of Minas Gerais, in Brazil. It is only from the capital, Belo Horizonte, and forms part of a metropolitan area with a population of 4.8 million.
Geography
The city belongs to the metropolitan meso ...
, transporting over 160,000 people daily. The current projects of expansion include Line 2, linking the existing Calafate Station to the region of Barreiro. And Line 3, from the city's main bus terminal to São Inácio de Loyola,
Savassi
Savassi is a neighborhood in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. It is located at the Central-South zone city district. Savassi is known for having a large number of bars, pubs, clubs, cafés, bistros, diners, restaurants, nightlife and shopping commerce ...
economical district. Line 2 is planned to be overground (similar to the current line) and Line 3 is planned to be underground, passing through the city's financial centre, Praça Sete and Afonso Pena Avenue. Also, Line 1 is planned to be extended to Novo Eldorado Station.
Belo Horizonte Public Transportation statistics
The average amount of time people spend commuting with public transit in Belo Horizonte, for example to and from work, on a weekday is 85 min. 26% of public transit riders, ride for more than 2 hours every day. The average amount of time people wait at a stop or station for public transit is 23 min, while 50% of riders wait for over 20 minutes on average every day. The average distance people usually ride in a single trip with public transit is 8.7 km, while 19% travel for over 12 km in a single direction.
Culture
Theatre and dance
![Praça da Estação FIT-BH 2010](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Pra%C3%A7a_da_Esta%C3%A7%C3%A3o_FIT-BH_2010.jpg)
Every two years, FIT BH, The International Theater Festival of Belo Horizonte, takes place in the city. This attracts artists from all over Brazil and worldwide. With the merger of two projects that would happen separately in 1994, one stage-based, organized by the Francisco Nunes Theater, and the other street-based, idealized by Grupo Galpão, came FIT-BH Palco & Rua. Produced every two years, under responsibility from the Belo Horizonte
City Hall, through the Municipal Culture Office and the Association Movimento Teatro de Grupo of Minas Gerais, in the program there are street and stage shows, and also
seminar
A seminar is a form of academic instruction, either at an academic institution or offered by a commercial or professional organization. It has the function of bringing together small groups for recurring meetings, focusing each time on some parti ...
s, workshops, courses, talks, etc. The Annual Campaign for the Popularisation of Theatre takes place every year in January and February, offering dozens of plays in
theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...
s all over the city at affordable prices.
Several notable artistic groups originated in Belo Horizonte.
Grupo Corpo Grupo Corpo are a Brazilian dance theatre company founded in 1975. The group performs internationally and has been acclaimed by critics. Their routines are particularly known for challenging audience perceptions of ballet and modern dance.
History
...
, which is perhaps the most famous
contemporary dance group in the country, was formed in the city in 1975. In March and April is the performance program from FID promoting contemporary dance in Belo Horizonte. The program presents groups from Belo Horizonte. For this project, the priority invitations go to the shows created by groups and choreographers living in the city. The purpose is to take shows and other activities such as workshops, talks and video screenings to the less privileged regions of the city regarding access to cultural assets. Belo Horizonte is also host to the Centro Mineiro de Danças Clássicas school.
Music
Clube da Esquina
Clube da Esquina (, , in English "Corner Club") was a Brazilian music artists collective, originating in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. It is also the name of a double album from 1972.
Clube da Esquina mixes rock and roll, progressive rock ...
is one of the most important
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...
al 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
Wagner Tiso Veiga (born 12 December 1945) is a musician, arranger, conductor, pianist and composer from Brazil.
Born in Três Pontas, Tiso learned music theory with Paulo Moura and specialised in keyboards. In 1970, he joined Som Imaginário, wo ...
,
Andersen Viana,
Milton Nascimento
Milton Nascimento (; born October 26, 1942), also known as Bituca, is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.
He has toured across the world.
Nascimento has won five Grammy Awards, including Best World Music Album for his alb ...
,
Lô Borges,
Beto Guedes
Alberto de Castro Guedes (born August 13, 1951) is a Brazilian singer, songwriter, and guitarist.
Biography
Beto Guedes has been playing in bands since he was a teenager. When he was 18 years old he took part in the V Singers International Fest ...
, Flávio Venturini,
Toninho Horta
Antônio Maurício Horta de Melo (born December 2, 1948) is a Brazilian jazz guitarist and vocalist.
In addition to composing and performing his own work, Horta has worked for many years as arranger or sideman for Brazilian artists such as El ...
,
Márcio Borges and
Fernando Brant
Fernando Rocha Brant (October 9, 1946 – June 12, 2015) was a Brazilian poet, lyricist and journalist, born in Caldas, Minas Gerais.
Brant's interest in music and literature began to increase while he studied law at Universidade Federal de Mina ...
, among others.
The band
Uakti, known for performing with self-built
musical instruments, 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
Jota Quest is a Brazilian pop rock band. The band was founded in 1993 in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais as ''J. Quest'', but due to trademark issues with Hanna-Barbera, they renamed themselves ''Jota Quest'' (''jota'' being the Portuguese name ...
,
Pato Fu
Pato Fu is a Brazilian indie rock band from Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. The band was formed by lead singer & rhythm guitarist Fernanda Takai, lead guitarist John Ulhoa and bassist Ricardo Koctus, in September 1992. Long-time drummer Xande Ta ...
,
Skank,
14 Bis
The ''14-bis'' (french: Quatorze-bis), (), also known as ("bird of prey" in French), was a pioneer era, canard-style biplane designed and built by Brazilian aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont. In 1906, near Paris, the ''14-bis'' made a m ...
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
Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal bands developed a ...
, 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
Sepultura (, "grave")Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 17. is a Brazilian heavy metal band from Belo Horizonte. Formed in 1984 by brothers Max and Igor Cavalera,Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 16. the band was a major force in the groove metal, thra ...
, the world's best known Brazilian metal band; and
Sarcófago
Sarcófago was a Brazilian extreme metal band formed in 1985. They were fronted by Sepultura's original singer, Wagner Lamounier, and Geraldo Minelli.
The front cover of the band's debut album, '' I.N.R.I.'', is regarded as a great influence o ...
, one of the founders of modern
black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw (lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an emp ...
. The
contemporary Christian music band
Diante do Trono
Diante do Trono (; lit.: Before the Throne) is a Brazilian contemporary Christian music band formed in 1997 as a ministry of Lagoinha Church in Belo Horizonte. It is led by singer, songwriter and pastor Ana Paula Valadão. The group became po ...
, is also of Belo Horizonte. A short instrumental song by American band
Earth, Wind & Fire
Earth, Wind & Fire (EW&F or EWF) is an American band whose music spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, big band, Latin, and Afro pop. They are among the best-selling bands of all time, with sales of over 90 million reco ...
is named after the city on their album
Now, Then & Forever
''Now, Then & Forever'' is the twentieth studio album by American band Earth, Wind & Fire, released on September 10, 2013, by Legacy Recordings/Sony Music. The album reached No. 11 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 and No. 6 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Alb ...
.
Museums
![Museu_de_Arte_da_Pampulha_-_BH](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Museu_de_Arte_da_Pampulha_-_BH.jpg)
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
A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...
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.
![Memorial Minas Gerais Vale](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Memorial_Minas_Gerais_Vale.jpg)
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
museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...
s 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
The Palácio da Liberdade is a building in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, which was for several years the office of the government of Minas Gerais state. It was built in 1897. In the 1950s the Governor Juscelino Kubitschek
Juscelino Kubitschek de ...
(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.
![AvenidaAfonsoPena e PalacioDasArtes](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/AvenidaAfonsoPena_e_PalacioDasArtes.jpg)
Inaugurated in 2010, the Circuito Cultural Praça da Liberdade was created with the goal of exploring
cultural diversity
Cultural diversity is the quality of diverse or different cultures, as opposed to monoculture, the global monoculture, or a homogenization of cultures, akin to cultural evolution. The term "cultural diversity" can also refer to having different c ...
, 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 spaces.
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.
The Natural History Museum and Botanical Garden holds an important treasure of
folk art
Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative. The makers of folk art are typically tr ...
, 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
The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...
and
crafts
A craft or trade is a pastime or an occupation that requires particular skills and knowledge of skilled work. In a historical sense, particularly the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied to people occupied in small scale prod ...
. With 600,000 sq. m. of green area, the
UFMG
The Federal University of Minas Gerais ( pt, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, UFMG) is a federalIn the Brazilian Higher Education context, ''Federal'' does not mean ''collegiate'' (even though most Federal Universities in Brazil enjoy a sim ...
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
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...
,
archeology, Environmental Education,
Natural History,
Mineralogy, and
Paleontology
Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...
. 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
An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...
, a
movie theater, a
bookstore
Bookselling is the commercial trading of books which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, bookpeople, bookmen, or bookwomen. The founding of librar ...
, 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
Roberto Burle Marx (August 4, 1909 – June 4, 1994) was a Brazilian landscape architect (as well as a painter, print maker, ecologist, naturalist, artist and musician) whose designs of parks and gardens made him world-famous. He is accredited ...
. 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
Roberto Burle Marx (August 4, 1909 – June 4, 1994) was a Brazilian landscape architect (as well as a painter, print maker, ecologist, naturalist, artist and musician) whose designs of parks and gardens made him world-famous. He is accredited ...
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.
[http://www.youblisher.com/files/publications/30/174017/pdf.pdf ]
Architecture
![Oscar Niemeyer's Church of St Francis in Belo Horizonte2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Oscar_Niemeyer%27s_Church_of_St_Francis_in_Belo_Horizonte2.jpg)
Belo Horizonte has several significant cultural landmarks, many of them situated in the
Pampulha district, where there are notable examples of Brazilian
contemporary architecture
Contemporary architecture is the architecture of the 21st century. No single style is dominant. Contemporary architects work in several different styles, from postmodernism, high-tech architecture and new interpretations of traditional architec ...
. Under the leadership of the then mayor of city,
Juscelino Kubitschek
Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira (; 12 September 1902 – 22 August 1976), also known by his initials JK, was a prominent Brazilian politician who served as the 21st president of Brazil from 1956 to 1961. His term was marked by economic prosp ...
, architects and artists such as
Oscar Niemeyer
Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho (15 December 1907 – 5 December 2012), known as Oscar Niemeyer (), was a Brazilian architect considered to be one of the key figures in the development of modern architecture. Niemeyer was ...
, landscaper
Burle Marx
Roberto Burle Marx (August 4, 1909 – June 4, 1994) was a Brazilian landscape architect (as well as a painter, print maker, ecologist, naturalist, artist and musician) whose designs of parks and gardens made him world-famous. He is accredited ...
, 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, Brasilia, also led by the now president Juscelino (aka JK). It is at the
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 1950's buildings such as Edificio Acaiaca, Conjunto JK, Hotel Amazonas and former Hotel Excelsior, all reflecting the modernity culture of the first planned capital of Brazil.
The Pampulha Park area includes one of the largest soccer stadiums 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
Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho (15 December 1907 – 5 December 2012), known as Oscar Niemeyer (), was a Brazilian architect considered to be one of the key figures in the development of modern architecture. Niemeyer was ...
. In Pampulha there is also the
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
The Federal University of Minas Gerais ( pt, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, UFMG) is a federalIn the Brazilian Higher Education context, ''Federal'' does not mean ''collegiate'' (even though most Federal Universities in Brazil enjoy a sim ...
campus, whose buildings themselves are important contributions to the city's architecture. Other notable buildings include the Mesbla and Niemeyer buildings.
![Ipê na Praça da Liberdade 2 By Sergio Cirino 2006](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Ip%C3%AA_na_Pra%C3%A7a_da_Liberdade_2_By_Sergio_Cirino_2006.JPG)
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. 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.
![Edifício Aureliano Chaves (3)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Edif%C3%ADcio_Aureliano_Chaves_%283%29.jpg)
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.
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.
Belo Horizonte is internationally known as the "capital of neighborhood bars."
Every year since 1999, the city hosts th
Comida di Butecofestival ("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.
Sport
Football
![Pré-jogo_-_18-11-12](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Pr%C3%A9-jogo_-_18-11-12.JPG)
As in the rest of Brazil, Association football, football is the most popular sport. The city's major teams are Clube Atlético Mineiro, Atlético Mineiro, Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, Cruzeiro and América Futebol Clube (MG), América Mineiro.
The city also has one of the biggest football stadiums in the world, the Mineirão, which opened in 1965. The older Arena Independência, Independência Stadium was the site of the FIFA World Cup 1950 game, when the England v United States (1950), United States beat England in a 1–0 win.
Mineirão, officially called Estádio Governador Magalhães Pinto, was built to provide the city of Belo Horizonte with a larger alternative for Independência Stadium, then the prime venue of the city. The stadium was meant to become the most modern stadium of Brazil and the new home of Atlético Mineiro and Cruzeiro. Construction took almost five years, and on September 5, 1965, Mineirão officially opened. Mineirão hardly changed in the following decades, and in the 1990s still had its original capacity. When Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup bids, won their bid to host the 2014 FIFA World Cup, it was clear that Mineirão needed to undergo a large redevelopment.
The project included the complete reconstruction of the bottom tier, an extension of the roof, and further refurbishments to upgrade the stadium to FIFA standards. Building works took a total of three years, and were completed in December 2012. The first match at the reopened Mineirão was played on February 3, 2013, with a state championship match between Cruzeiro and Atlético. While Cruzeiro agreed on a lease to play the next 25 years at Mineirão, Atlético is currently building his own arena, Arena MRV, which is planned to be opened at the end of 2022. Atlético's new arena will be the most modern football stadium in Latin America and the second largest sports arena in the state of Minas Gerais, with a capacity of over 46,000 people. Mineirão hosted a total of six matches during the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The stadium also was one of the playing venues of the
2013 FIFA Confederations Cup and the Football at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Olympic football tournament in 2016.
In addition to football, Belo Horizonte has one of the largest attendances at volleyball matches in the entire country. They are played either at Mineirinho, home of Brazil men's national volleyball team, Brazil's national volleyball team, or at Minas Tênis Clube.
Other sports
Belo Horizonte is home to 2015 French Open – Men's Doubles, 2015 French Open men's doubles champion and former World no. 1 doubles player Marcelo Melo as well as 2016 Australian Open – Men's Doubles, 2016 Australian Open men's doubles and 2016 Australian Open – Mixed Doubles, mixed doubles champion Bruno Soares.
The Minas Tênis Clube is a multi-sport club that plays in the Novo Basquete Brasil, Liga Nacional de Futsal, Brazilian Men's Volleyball Superliga and Brazilian Women's Volleyball Superliga.
International relations
Belo Horizonte is Sister city, twinned with:
* Austin, Texas, Austin, United States (1965)
* Luanda, Angola (1968)
* Zahlé, Lebanon (1974)
* Granada, Spain (1975)
* Porto, Portugal (1986)
* Minsk, Belarus (1987)
* Havana, Cuba (1995)
* Bethlehem, Palestine (1999)
* Homs, Syria (2001)
* Masaya, Nicaragua (2002)
* Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Fort Lauderdale, United States (2003)
* Tripoli, Libya, Tripoli, Libya (2003)
* Cuenca, Ecuador, Cuenca, Ecuador (2004)
* Tegucigalpa, Honduras (2004)
* Newark, New Jersey, Newark, United States (2006)
* Lagos, Nigeria (2011)
Notes
References
External links
City Hall of Belo Horizonte website
{{Authority control
Belo Horizonte,
Populated places established in 1701
Planned cities in Brazil
1701 establishments in Brazil
Municipalities in Minas Gerais