Poços Literary

The UNESCO Creative Cities Network aims to strengthen sustainable development through the exchange of successful practices in member cities.

The history of Poços de Caldas began to be written from the discovery of its first sources and springs, in the eighteenth century. the rare waters and with healing power were responsible for the prosperity of the city when the lands began to be occupied by former prospectors, who began to dedicate themselves to raising cattle. At the time, 1818, the region where Poços de Caldas is located today belonged to Captain José Bernardes Junqueira. When Senator Joaquim Floriano Godoy declared the land next to the sulfurous water wells of public utility, he also determined the expropriation of the site. The captain himself took it upon himself to donate 96 hectares of his land for the foundation of the city. The act was signed on November 6, 1872, the date on which the anniversary of Poços de Caldas is celebrated.

Since 1886 there was a bathroom in the city, used for the treatment of skin diseases. She used the sulphurous and thermal water of the Fonte dos Macacos. In 1889 another establishment was founded by Pedro Sanches for the same purpose, capturing water from the Fonte Pedro Botelho. There, the sulfurous water rose to the deposits by natural pressure. The bathhouse no longer exists. In its place were built, in the late 1920s, the Thermas Antônio Carlos, one of the most beautiful buildings in the city.

In October 1886, Poços received Dom Pedro II. He came accompanied by the Empress Tereza Cristina for the inauguration of a branch of the Estrada de Ferro Mogiana. Three years later the city was dismembered from the district of Caldas and elevated to the category of town and municipality. Its name is related to the history of the Portuguese royal family. At the time the sulfurous and thermal water wells were discovered, the city of Caldas da Rainha, in Portugal, was already an important spa used for treatments and much frequented by the royal family. Caldas has the oldest thermal hospital in operation in the world, since the sixteenth century.

In the 1940s, when it was the casinos, Poços received the visit of the Brazilian aristocracy, who frequented the halls of the Palace Casino and the Palace Hotel. President Getúlio Vargas had a special suite in the hotel with the same decoration as the one he wore at the Catete Palace in Rio de Janeiro, then the country's capital. The room still preserves the furniture and style of the time, but one of the hotel's biggest attractions remains its thermal pool, built in a sumptuous hall supported by Carrara marble columns.

Among the artists who passed through the Palace Casino at that time were Silvio Caldas, Carmem Miranda, Orlando Silva and Carlos Galhardo. Also in Poços de Caldas were illustrious characters such as Rui Barbosa, Santos Dumont, the poet Olavo Bilac and the novelist João do Rio. Among the politicians, the interventor of Minas Gerais during the Estado Novo, Benedito Valadares and President Juscelino Kubitschek, among others, were also constant presences.

The prohibition of gambling in 1946 and the discovery of the antibiotic had a strong impact on tourism in the city. Thermalism ceased to be the most effective way to treat the diseases for which it was indicated and casinos were closed. The economy of Poços suffered a major shake-up, but the bad phase was overcome with the change of focus on tourism. The middle class and large groups began to frequent the spas, to visit the fountains and other points of attraction of the city. In addition, the city was home to several industries, boosting the economy.
Poços de Caldas also belongs to the European Thermal Towns Association, after signing a term of adhesion, in Caldas da Rainha (Portugal), becoming a city outside Europe to integrate the itinerary, formed by important European resorts. And in 2016, Poços de Caldas became "Poços de Caldas, literary city" by Law no. 9148/2016.
Source: IBGE.

Poços de Caldas meets the UNESCO Criteria.

Local Literature and literary events

Poços de Caldas, the biggest source of writers in Minas Gerais

Portraits of Reading Award in Brazil 2018.

Reading Portraits Award 2018

The International Literary Festival of Poços de Caldas, Flipoços, received in 2018 the IPL Award - 2018 Reading Portraits, in the Productive Chain category.

The Award is divided into four categories: Libraries, Productive Chain, Media and Civil Social Organizations. In each of them, ten finalists were selected, among which three winning projects were recognized. Each winning project received the IPL Award trophy and the finalists received the award participation stamp.

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