This is really a very cool place. A theatre company founded nearly 50 years ago, specialized in…read moremarionette art. It is both a museum (displaying characters from past shows and those made for TV) and a theatre that has weekly performances. The shows are every Saturday and Sunday at 16:00; they change the performance every month. The one we went to was a very nice puppet + multimedia show. After the show there was a free / included tour of the museum. Fun for young and old.

Inhotim is a world-class center for contemporary art, located about 80-90 minutes by car from Belo…read moreHorizonte. Located in beautiful surroundings with lush forest and beautiful lakes you could spend your time there just enjoying its botanical gardens! But, it is the art that will blow you away. Since there is so much space, the outdoor art works and galleries are quite spread out. Luckily there is a good map, and you can pay extra to be shuttled around. Whether you use this or decide to walk you can be sure that you won't see everything in a single day. There are some amazing works, from conceptual art and installations to career retrospectives, outstanding architecture, and spectacular commissioned works. I have been there three times now and can't wait to visit again. It is surprising to find such a high quality venue in Minas Gerais. When you're visiting Belo Horizonte make sure to put Inhotim very high on your list. By the way, you are not allowed bring drinks or food into the park and therefore you can't spread out for a nice picnic. Luckily there are some good restaurants and lanchonetes to keep your tummy satisfied.

This old building are quite impressive from an architectural point of view; beautiful crown…read moremolding, marble steps, grand staircase, high ceilings. The building itself it worth a look. It also has a cafe and concert hall on the ground floor. I saw the exhibition for Iberé Camargo, a famous Brazilian painter known for his dark, heavily oil painted figures with a bicycle. I'm sure there was deeper meaning for each iteration of the pictures but held diminutive titles like you are worthless, made it seem little dreary. I wasn't a particular fan of this artist, but his work covered the entire third floor, so quite a collection. There was a curator on staff who was starting conversations with interested patrons. The museum is free and there are rotating exhibits so it's worth returning to.

Great place for kids and adults to take a walk around the square and learn a little bit about our…read morecity.

Another beautiful museum around Praça da Liberdade. This one has selection of minerals from Brazil…read moreand other countries. The floors are gorgeous. They have a cafe on the main floor and the exhibits are on the second and third floors. They also have local arts and crafts for sale at the museum store.

Gorgeous museum. With history and art of Minas Gerais state…read more It is housed in a historical government building with beautiful architecture that has been preserved, with added modern touches. You can see everything in a couple of hours and make sure to grab a coffee at their café. The admission is free.

Possibly my favorite museum in Brazil! Belo Horizonte has lots of museums to choose from, but this…read moreis truly unique. They have displays on poets with small strips of poetry tucked into branches on a tree to be read. They have an exhibit on Sebastião Salgado, our favorite Brazilian photographer with videos and beautiful prints of his work. They have a section on the haunted house and history of Belo Horizonte. They showed some old time farmer movies displayed in a room decorated in farm furniture. They have a room modeled after a theater and the history of opera culture. We also looked at a historical retelling from 3 different time periods and perspectives, an Amazon indigenous, a slave and a Portuguese. They projected a video on a face cast and it looked 3-dimensional, along with a film that accompanied it. All of these were varied and unique methods of celebrating history in a captivating way. The museum is free with storage lockers for big bags, has clean restrooms, an open air courtyard and a bright cafe in the back. All information has both English and Portuguese handouts which made it easy to follow.

We love this little city forest and museum! Been a handful of times since I discovered it two…read moremonths ago. Great for making small and longer walks in relative solitude, with a good chance to spot wildlife. You'll run into the occasional school class and family but it's very quiet compared to other parks. The exhibits include natural history (eg dinosaurs, mineralogy), some arts, biology (the human body exhibition is nice although the interactive portions were non-functional when we visited), and medicinal and other plants. There is a cafeteria and organized walks and other activities during school holidays. Entry is R10 for adults. There is ample parking for cars. Also easily accessible by public transport; it is about 10 minutes walk from the Santa Ines metro station.

We really enjoyed the American film series they had going on this week. The museum is free and…read moretickets to the movie are also free. Tickets for the movie are given out half an hour before the film in limited quantity downstairs. They didn't look like they were going to run out but it was for counting purposes and seats were not assigned but they start the movie right on the dot so it's hard to find a seat once they turn down the lights. They had a series of documentaries (subtitled in Portuguese) that won prestigious film festival awards. The first movie was saw was "Keep on Keepin' on," a film about the legendary jazz trumpeter Clark Terry and his mentorship and friendship with a blind boy. It was so good that we returned a few days later for another film, "Still Alive" documenting the therapeutic power of music in the elderly with dementia. They had a more abstract visual art exhibit upstairs which was difficult for me to interpret. There were a few films that also odd but one artist, Berna Reale did a series of short films that were interesting. A take on "Cantando na chuva" dressed in gold with a gas mask dancing on a red carpet rolled out in the center of a huge trash pile. They have a open courtyard below, surrounded by a huge park, a gift shop with a big selection of items, and a cafe downstairs that serves food. A great cultural experience in Belo Horizonte.

Very cool arts complex in the center of Belo Horizonte. The space itself is pretty easy to get…read morearound, with a well informed front desk/ticket window to help point you in the right direction. There is also a neat Mineiro craft goods store in the front lobby. My visit coincided with an exhibition on the 5th Marcantonio Vilaça award winners and the American Film Showcase. The Vilaça winners weren't really of my taste, but each artist had a unique style that at least made it interesting. It was also free, so that's always a plus. The American Film Showcase was so good, that we decided to come back for a second day. Featuring three films a day, the showcase was a selection of American documentaries, mostly from the past couple years. I saw Keep On Keeping On and Alive Inside and I was blown away by both films. I'm not sure who selected which films to show, but they did an excellent job. The theater is pretty comfortable for being located within an arts complex and again, the tickets were free. There is also a small cafe outside the theater that offered decently priced and tasty snacks. I tried the carne seca sandwich and it was plenty of food for a dinner. If I lived in Belo Horizonte, I would definitely bookmark the schedule of events for the Palacio das Artes and would visit frequently.