Abstract/Résumé/Resumen
This article intends to discuss the refurbishing policies and gentrification implemented at Station Square [Praça da Estação], focuzing on the refurbishment of Central Building, aiming to house the Arts and Crafts Museum. Based on the analysis of official
documentation and printed newspapers mostly surveyed at the City Public Archive of Belo Horizonte and at the archive of the Museum Historical Abílio Barreto, it was possible to perceive the different discourses and conflicts on the Arts and Crafts Museum’s creation and functioning, and its relation to surroundings, which eventually permeated the uses and appropriations of downtown public spaces, indicating the deletion of socially relevant memories and different forms of exclusion. By means of the results
obtained in a field research, we propose actions that could promote the interlocution between the cultural institutions and the citizens that daily enjoy the square, making the institutions more democratic.