Inhotim park – where art meets nature

“What’s this Imhotep place about?”, I asked my good friends Claudia and Mauricio as we left Belo Horizonte on our road trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Claudia laughed and corrected me: “It’s Inhotim! And it’s a botanical garden and modern art museum in one”. I was intrigued. I enjoy strolls around botanical gardens and I’m a fan of contemporary art, so the combination of the two sounded great! Inhotim (map) is an expansive park located at the edge of Brumadinho, a town about an hour’s drive from Belo Horizonte. Conceived in 2002 and opened to the public in 2006, the park covers a sprawling 5,000 acres and is home to many varieties of flora interspersed by striking art galleries and pavilions. These days, Inhotim is home to more than 500 artworks by Brazilian and international artists, as well as more than 5,000 species of plants.

A stroll around Inhotim park

The first thing I realised about Inhotim is how huge it is! From the main office, trails lead in different directions to all the corners of the park. The trails wind themselves around the undulating landscape of the park, making for easy walking (but you can also hire a buggy with a driver if you’re short on time).

Nature

Together with Claudia and Mauricio, we explored the park at a leisurely pace. Wherever we went, we were continuously surrounded by gorgeous trees, palms and flowering shrubs. The landscape architects sure did an amazing job!

and Art

We stopped at various pavilions to check out the art works. There were many fascinating specimens, from a hall filled with hammocks and colourful spotlights to candle-wax creations of famous buildings around the world slowly melting away as the candles burned.

For me, two pieces truly stood out: the moving kaleidoscope and the beam drop (beams were dropped 45m from a helicopter into a pit filled with concrete!).

Along the way, I enjoyed the lush vegetation, and colourful birds and butterflies which flitted around. We ended our 4-hour walk with a meal at the park’s buffet restaurant, where you pay according to the weight of your plate. It was a lovely afternoon and we had a great time. Check out my video of our afternoon at Inhotim.

If you’re visiting Belo Horizonte, make sure to plan a half-day trip to Inhotim! Read more about things to do in Belo Horizonte.

THANK YOU Claudia and Mauricio for showing me Inhotim, your fabulous company and planning/arranging everything for our road-trip! 🙂

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