Praca da Liberdade
Aarão Reis (city plan); gardens remodelled by Paul Villon · 1895 to 1897; gardens 1900s to 1920s
Step out of the CCBB and the square spreads in front of you: a long garden of lawns and flowerbeds under an avenue of imperial palms, with fountains playing in a central basin and a white bandstand among the trees. At the far end stands the Palacio da Liberdade, the former governor's palace, and around the edges are the pale facades of the old secretariats, each now a museum. This is the ceremonial centre of Belo Horizonte, laid out when the city was founded in eighteen ninety seven as a planned capital to replace the colonial town of Ouro Preto.
The square was designed as the seat of government, with the palace at its head and the ministries around it, and the gardens were remodelled in the early twentieth century in the French manner by the landscape gardener Paul Villon. Look at the imperial palms, which were planted as a symbol of the new republic's ambitions and now tower over everything; at the Art Nouveau bandstand; and at the fountains, which are lit and set to music on some evenings. Among the historic buildings you will also see two modern intruders: the curved apartment block by Oscar Niemeyer from the nineteen fifties and the red and green postmodern Rainha da Sucata by Eolo Maia, once controversial and now a landmark.
Since the state government moved out in two thousand and ten, the square has become the Circuito Liberdade, a walkable ring of museums including the Museum of Mines and Metal, the Memorial Minas Gerais Vale, and the CCBB itself. On Sundays the square fills with families, street musicians and food stalls. It is at its most beautiful in the late afternoon, when the palms cast long shadows across the lawns.
Did You Know? The avenue of imperial palms was planted as a republican symbol when the city was founded; some of the trees are now more than a century old.
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