While we were in Belo Horizonte we went to visit Pampulha, one of Belo Horizonte’s two sites worth visiting (or so we were told). Pampulha is an artificial lake near Belo Horizonte constructed by order of Juscelino Kubitschek, then a mayor of the city. Kubitschek later moved on to be the president of Brazil and oversaw the construction of Brasilia – a city of the future, as imagined in mid 60s. (Being an innovative city involved using blocks instead of street addresses, building many gray concrete building and getting rid of sidewalks on the assumption that everyone would be driving.) Pampulha also features some innovative architecture by Oscar Niemeyer, who later became one of the primary architects of Brasilia. The most striking work is a church (Igreja de São Francisco de Assis). The structure is not shocking by itself, until you realize it was intended as a church. Not surprisingly, the Catholic Church refused to consecrate it for about 15 years.

The tile work on the church (quite beautiful, even if a bit idiosyncratic) is by Cândido Portinari, one of Brazil’s most important painters from this century. There is an extensive collection of Portinari’s work at portinari.org.br.