Pampulha

A Place for Leisure

Abstract

This article aims to contribute to expanding knowledge on spaces for leisure and idleness in the city of Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. Specifically, the objects of our study are cultural facilities existing in the Pampulha Modern Complex that are popularly recognized as places of leisure and leisure, and on which public policies affect. This complex was designed by architect Oscar Niemeyer, in the early years of the 1940s, as a leisure and cultural center for Belo Horizonte, at the request of the then city mayor Juscelino Kubitschek (1940-1945). In 2016, in recognition of the complex’s cultural values, UNESCO granted it the title of World Heritage Site. By the way, among these values, it stands out the fact that Pampulha Modern Complex extraordinarily expresses the modernist search for integration between advanced construction technologies and avant-garde artistic languages in, at the same time, architecture, urbanism, landscaping, sculpture, and painting. Special emphasis is given here to the issue of public policies implemented towards promoting access to architectural and urban assets understood as being for leisure and enjoyment.