Secretaria da Viação, Praça da Liberdade, Public administration building in Belo Horizonte, Brazil
The Secretaria da Viação is a former administrative building on Praça da Liberdade in Belo Horizonte that spans four floors. It houses archives and a library on the ground level, while upper sections serve cultural and administrative purposes today.
The building was listed by Iepha-MG in 1977 and again by the municipality of Belo Horizonte in 1994. Its construction used Belgian cast-iron staircases and granite steps, engineering solutions imported for the project. The Polish version had rendered the granite steps as "granicznych stopni" (border steps); the correct term is "granitowych stopni".
The building is part of the Praça da Liberdade circuit of museums and cultural venues in central Belo Horizonte. Its ground floor holds archives and a library, while the upper floors are used for exhibitions and cultural programming. Visitors can consult documentary collections and attend temporary shows rather than see a fixed display of regional crafts.
The building faces Praça da Liberdade, a square whose landscaped gardens and paths connect it to other heritage buildings nearby. The surrounding blocks are laid out on a grid, so the square is easy to reach on foot from the centre. The ground floor holds the archive and library, while exhibitions occupy the upper floors.
The building's Belgian cast iron stairs showcase a rare metalworking technique from the early 1900s that is seldom found in Latin America. This imported construction method made the structure a noteworthy example of international architecture from that period.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 94,392 contributors worldwide.