The Circuito Liberdade: Museums on Every Corner
The whole point of a visit is to duck in and out of the buildings ringing the plaza, most with free or symbolic entry. The Palácio da Liberdade, the complex's centrepiece, is an eclectic, neoclassical-influenced palace begun in 1895 and opened in 1897; a major restoration in 2004–06 uncovered hidden wall and ceiling paintings, and highlights include the Louis XV-style banqueting hall, the painted Salão Nobre, a large panel by Antonio Parreira and the formal gardens designed by Paul Villon. Visits are by appointment on weekends and holidays, in small guided groups of about half an hour.↗↗
Two museums tell the story of Minas Gerais itself. The Memorial Minas Gerais Vale is an immersive 'experience museum' set in the 1897 former state-treasury building, using light, sound, film and rooms that carry you from the 18th century to the present to evoke the state's history, traditions and contemporary culture. Near it, the MM Gerdau – Museu das Minas e do Metal unpacks mining and metallurgy through interactive science and rooms full of rare mineral specimens in the 19th-century 'Prédio Rosa', the pink building inaugurated alongside the square in 1897.↗↗↗
For art and ideas, the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (CCBB BH) occupies the grand former security-secretariat building, begun in 1926 by architect Luiz Signorelli, and is one of Brazil's most-visited cultural institutions, staging major rotating exhibitions, film, theatre and talks. A few steps away, the Casa Fiat de Cultura—former government dispatches palace—shows national and international exhibitions and keeps Candido Portinari's 'Civilização Mineira', the largest of his panels in Minas, on permanent display alongside a popular retro-modern café. The Oscar Niemeyer–designed Biblioteca Pública Estadual Luiz de Bessa (1961) is a treasure of books and rare editions, while the Espaço do Conhecimento UFMG pairs playful science displays with a planetarium and an astronomical terrace where telescopes and guides open up the night sky.↗↗↗
Rounding out the circuit are the Museu Mineiro, a restored historic mansion whose 3,500-plus objects span sacred art, colonial furniture, coins, arms and paintings by masters such as Ataíde and Guignard; the Centro de Arte Popular CEMIG, devoted to the ceramics, textiles and sculpture of Minas' folk artists; and the Arquivo Público Mineiro, the state's oldest cultural institution, holding colonial-era documents, maps and photographs. Together they make the square a one-block primer on Minas Gerais' history, art and popular culture.↗↗