The Niemeyer Building (Edifico Niemeyer) is a landmark on Belo Horizonte’s historic central plaza. The celebrated architect Oscar Niemeyer, who designed much of Brazil’s preplanned capital Brasilia, constructed it between 1954 and 1960. The Niemeyer Building is the only residential building on Liberty Square. It replaced a former 19th-century mansion called the Palacete Dolabela.
According to Niemeyer, he got his inspiration for the curvaceous design of the tower from the rolling mountain landscapes of Belo Horizonte. The flowing lines help to create a wealth of spacious rooms in the apartments. From above, the shape of the building resembles a clover leaf and, curiously, it doesn’t feature any right angles.
Gaze up at the tower from street level to see multiple levels of rounded horizontal plates stacked on top of each other. Note how the building appears to have about 20 levels, when in fact it has only eight. This is an optical illusion that originates from the Baroque era of architecture.
Combine your time at the building with a walk around Liberty Square. The square is the heart of the Belo Horizonte’s Circuito Cultural Praça da Liberdade, which is a tourist route of cultural institutions. Visit the Bank of Brazil Cultural Center, Memorial Minas Gerais Vale, Museum of Mines and Metal and Pálacio da Liberdade. Niemeyer was also responsible for designing the Luiz de Bessa State Public Library.
You’ll find the Niemeyer Building in the central neighborhood of Svassi. The city’s downtown district is just a 20-minute walk to the north. Public buses travel to Liberty Square from all areas of the city.
