Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais, isn't the cleanest city we have stayed in but we scored a 4-star hotel in the nicest part of town for less than most 2-star places. We are using BH as a base to explore the rest of Minas Gerais, one bus trip at a time.
Connie through the Kaleidoscope
Contemporary art; just the idea makes me shake my head in confusion even after reading the explanation and ask "WHY?" This wasn't the case yesterday at the Center for Contemporary Art at Inhotim, 50 km from BH. Many of the monumental pieces were intriquing, some were even inspiring; everything from old Volkswagens to holographic samba dancers. The setting was as wonderful as that of the Louisiana Museum in Denmark, acre upon acre of landscaped garden, forest trails, lakes, orchids and hummingbirds.
Blossoms and hummingbirds
Though their names were foreign to us, Brazilian sculptors have a rich heritage beginning in the 1700s with Antonio Francisco Lisboa. Aleijandinho, "little cripple," lost all of his fingers and toes and the use of his lower legs (syphilis or leprosy??) while in his thirties. Imagine the loss to the world if Michelangelo suffered a similar fate. But it hardly slowed Aleijandinho down. With a hammer and chisel strapped to his hands he created some of Brazil's most famous sculpture including the medallion on the Igreja Sao Francisco de Assis in Ouro Preto and the WHS Prophets at the Basilicado Bom Jesus de Matosinhos. It was rainiing when we finally arrived at the Basilica today and the gray skies only accented his statues. And it kept the crowds away, as if the backwater town of Congonhas would draw crowds.
Aleijandinho's Prophets
