The Fashion Museum

(Former Deliberative Council of Belo Horizonte city)

In the center of Belo Horizonte, at 1149, Bahia Street, on the corner of Avenida Augusto de Lima, the building began construction in 1911, thirteen years after the inauguration of the new capital of Minas Gerais. It opened the doors to the public in 1914, but some works continued being carried out until 1920.

Belo Horizonte was a modern city, as the result of republican ideas. Created by decree, the capital had the mayor indicated by the state government. In 1899, the Deliberative Council was created, comprised of five elected members, with legislative functions, to meet the demands of politicians, civil leaders and the population in general. This council functioned from 1900 to 1914, in a room of the Senate of Minas Gerais (current Museum of Minas Gerais) on Liberty Avenue (current João Pinheiro Avenue).

The original project is by the architect Francisco Izidro Monteiro. It has a neo-Gothic style, which is associated with religious construction. This style has its origin in France, arriving to have great receptivity in the Iberian Peninsula, where it merges to the style Mourisco and Manuelino of Portugal in the XV century. Its sumptuousness impressed the city that had at the time thirty thousand inhabitants. Some local artists worked in the building, such as the sculptor João Morandi and the carver Gabriel Galante; the Belgian stained glass was in charge of Jean Maria Joseph Verdussen.

The building is located on a corner lot, with “V” floor. The main entrance stands out in the angle cut, the tower where the corridor is, from where a wooden staircase leads to the second pavement; at the top of this tower, on the facade, is where the clock is located. Landing the tower, we find two facades: one on Bahia Street and another one on Augusto de Lima Avenue. In them, the balconies with Moorish influences and flanked by two smaller towers stand out.

Due to the style and characteristics of the construction, the building was often confused by passers-by as a church and also named by the public as “the castle”. In March of 1975, the building was registered in the Public Patrimony by the Iepha-MG and by the Deliberative Council of the Cultural Patrimony of Belo Horizonte City Hall.

The building, which was built to house the Deliberative Council and the Public Library, also sheltered other departments throughout its centennial history. Minas Gerais radio and part of the architecture school of the Federal University of Minas Gerais, both temporarily, from 1931; the Municipal Chamber from 1947 to 1973; the Prof. Yalma Guimarães Museum of Mineralogy from 1975 to 1992; the Museum of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force of Belo Horizonte, for a short period; the Cultural Center of the Municipality of Belo Horizonte (CCBH) as of 1997; the Fashion Reference Center after 2012 and, since December 2016, the Fashion Museum (MUMO).

In 1920, the building had a prominent size in the city, by the height of its tower and sumptuousness, its facilities were perfected to receive King Albert and Queen Elizabeth of Belgium, who visited the city. Even an electric elevator was purchased, but it was not installed, because the internal space of the tower did not behave. At the beginning of the 60s, during a restoration work on the building, the elevator cage was found buried, which is now exposed in the gardens of the Abílio Barreto Historical Museum.