Historic Town of Ouro Preto, Brazil

Founded in the early 18th century 513km north of Rio de Janeiro, the Historic Town of Ouro Preto (Black Gold) covers the steep slopes of the Vila Rica (Rich Valley), centre of a rich gold mining area and the capital of Minas Gerais Province from 1720-1897.

Along the original winding road and within the irregular layout following the contours of the landscape lie squares, public buildings, residences, fountains, bridges and churches which together form an outstanding homogenous group exhibiting the fine curvilinear form of Baroque architecture.

The Historic City of Ouro Preto was the symbolic center of the Inconfidência Mineira in 1789, a Brazilian independence movement, and home to exceptional artists responsible for many of the most significant works of the Brazilian Baroque period, including the Church of São Francisco of Assisi by the distinguished architect and sculptor Antônio Francisco Lisboa (Aleijadinho).

A masterpiece of human creative genius

Set in a remote and rugged landscape, the aesthetic quality of the vernacular and erudite architecture and irregular urban pattern of Ouro Preto makes the town a treasure of human genius.

The most notable of the city’s architectural works are represented by the religious monuments and administrative buildings, including the Palácio dos Governadores (Governors’ Palace), today the School of Mines, and the former Casa de Câmara e Cadeia (Administrative and Prison House), home to the Inconfidência Museum.

The Baroque churches carry sculptures by Antônio Francisco Lisboa, Aleijadinho, colonial Brazil’s greatest artist, and the ceiling paintings of Manuel da Costa Athaide among others.

These were the representatives of the initial expressions of an artistic form deemed genuinely national and developed in a region marked by difficult access and a scarcity of materials and labor in the 18th century.

An exceptional built heritage

The built heritage of the Historic City of Ouro Preto bears exceptional testimony to the creative talents of a society built on pioneering mining wealth under Portuguese colonial rule.

Although the architecture, paintings and sculptures are based on underlying models introduced by Portuguese immigrants, the works vary significantly from the contemporary European art, not only with respect to their spatial conception, but in their decorative treatment, in particular the stone sculptures carved on the facades, distinctive for their originality and design and in the combined use of two materials, gneiss and soapstone.

The absence of formal convents or monasteries, due to the edict of the Portuguese Crown which prohibited the establishment of religious orders in Minas Gerais, led to the construction of churches and chapels displaying the full splendor, quality and originality of the syncretized artistic traditions of two cultures.

Artwork at Museu do Oratório.

The sculptor Antônio Francisco Lisboa, Aleijadinho, was one of the most important artists of Minas Gerais.

The artist died in 1814, and was honored in 1968 with the creation of the Aleijadinho Museum, dedicated to preserving and exhibiting objects of sacred art.