Barbacena is a municipality in the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

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 (literall ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. 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 The Mantiqueira Mountains (Portuguese: ''Serra da Mantiqueira iterally: Mantiqueira Mountains Chain') are a mountain range in Southeastern Brazil, with parts in the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro. It rises abruptly from the ...

south of the state capital

Belo Horizonte 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 metropol ...

at an elevation of , making it one of the ten highest cities in Brazil. Located on the important BR-040 highway (also called Rodovia JK), which links

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 ...

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 b ...

, it is from the state capital and

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 ...

. Barbacena has a humid tropical climate with cool summers due to the elevation. Summer averages are and winter averages . The cool climate and abundant rainfall have made Barbacena a center for flower production — the city is the biggest producer of flowers in Minas Gerais, and is nicknamed "City of Roses". Cattle raising and the dairy industry are quite developed and the city is a big producer of milk products; there are also several small textile factories. Barbacena is also the home of the Preparatory School of Air Cadets (the sixteenth best

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

of the country, which belongs to the

Brazilian Air Force "Wings that protect the country" , colours = , colours_label = , march = Hino dos Aviadores , mascot = , anniversaries = 22 May (anniver ...

) and of a Medical School, Faculdade de Medicina de Barbacena (Faculty of Medicine of Barbacena). The city is also famous for the

Hospital Colônia de Barbacena Museu da Loucura (Museum of Madness), formerly known as Hospital Colônia was a psychiatric hospital founded in 1903. The institution was located in the Brazilian city of Barbacena, Minas Gerais. From its foundation to 1980, Colônia was theater of ...

, a mental hospital founded in 1903, which was known for its abusive treatment of patients. According to sources, 70% of the patients did not have mental illness, and allegedly 60,000 people died in the hospital. It ceased operations in the mid-1980s. It has been compared to a

Nazi concentration camp From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as con ...

. Barbacena was the birthplace of the

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

activist and lawyer

Heráclito Fontoura Sobral Pinto Heráclito Fontoura Sobral Pinto (5 November 1893 – Rio de Janeiro, 30 November 1991) was a Brazilian lawyer known for his human rights activism and devout Catholicism. He strongly opposed dictator Getúlio Vargas and worked against Brazil's la ...

. Barbacena was a station on the

Estrada de Ferro Oeste de Minas The Estrada de Ferro Oeste de Minas (EFOM) was a narrow-gauge railway located in the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. At its peak the railway's route totalled . A portion of the railway still operates as a heritage railway, and one ...

, a narrow gauge railway.

Geography

According to the modern (2017) geographic classification by 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 informat ...

), the municipality belongs to the

Immediate Geographic Region of Barbacena The Immediate Geographic Region of Barbacena is one of the 10 immediate geographic regions in the Intermediate Geographic Region of Barbacena, one of the 70 immediate geographic regions in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais and one of the 509 of ...

, in the Intermediate Geographic Region of Barbacena.

History

Barbacena was founded on 14 August 1791. In the 19th century, Barbacena was a principal distribution center for the mining districts of Minas Gerais, but this distinction was lost when the railways were extended beyond that point.

Sister cities

Barbacena has one

sister city A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inter ...

, as designated by

Sister Cities International Sister Cities International (SCI) is a nonprofit citizen diplomacy network that creates and strengthens partnerships between communities in the United States and those in other countries, particularly through the establishment of " sister citie ...

: *

Burlington, Iowa Burlington is a city in, and the county seat of, Des Moines County, Iowa, Des Moines County, Iowa, United States. The population was 23,982 in the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, a decline from the 26,839 population in 2000 United States ...

, USA

In popular culture

Literature

* ''

Quincas Borba Quincas may refer to: * Quincas Borba, a novel written in 1891 by the Brazilian writer Machado de Assis * Joaquim Albino (1931), generally known as ''Quincas'', Brazilian footballer (Canto do Rio, Fluminense, Palmeiras) {{disambig ...

'', by

Machado de Assis Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (), often known by his surnames as Machado de Assis, ''Machado,'' or ''Bruxo do Cosme Velho''Vainfas, p. 505. (21 June 1839 – 29 September 1908), was a pioneer Brazilian novelist, poet, playwright and short stor ...

References

{{Authority control 1791 establishments in Brazil Populated places established in 1791 Municipalities in Minas Gerais