S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 Some cities never seem to just conform to the role that history ascribes them. And Ouro Preto, in the interior of Minas Gerais, is one of them. The municipality, which staged the first gold rush of the country, in the late 17th century, also became the capital of a province in the 18th century. Ouro Preto was also a great atelier for one of the leading Brazilian artists and a master of Baroque sculpture: Aleijadinho. <\/p>\n
Before Aleijadinho made the city into an open-air relic, Ouro Preto was the stage of disputes and battles that changed the course of history in Brazil. Some bandeirantes (pioneers) from S\u00e3o Paulo, led by Duarte Lopes, were in the region known as Gerais in 1694 to imprison Indians. When Duarte Lopes stopped for water at a creek, he found something that resembled granite. The strange material was sent to Rio de Janeiro, where the granite was found to be gold. Four years later, an expedition led by the bandeirante Ant\u00f4nio Dias de Oliveira found Pico do Itacolomi (the Itacolomi peak), described in the accounts of Duarte Lopes, which was located in a plot filled with the gold that he was seeking.<\/p>\n
In 1720, the village was promoted to the category of village and dubbed Vila Rica. However, between 1707 and 1709, some plots that contained gold mines were passed on to the Portuguese, known as emboabas. The pioneers from S\u00e3o Paulo rebelled and the two groups went to war, which was won by the Portuguese. The battle became known as Revolta dos Emboabas. In 1719 the Portuguese king, John V, established a foundry and determined that all of the gold found was to be melted. More than that: one fifth of it was to be handed in to the Crown as tax. A new revolt was stifled by the governor of the Capitania (district) who ordered the imprisonment of the revolt leader, Filipe dos Santos. He was jailed, judged and quartered.<\/p>\n
In 1789, another uprising emerged in the region. The Inconfid\u00eancia Mineira came about when Viscount of Barbacena arrived in the city to charge the taxes paid with gold that the king had established. A group of conspirators led by Joaquim Jos\u00e9 da Silva Xavier, aka Tiradentes, rebelled against the extorsion. Tiradentes was betrayed and had the same end as his rebel predecessor, Filipe dos Santos. His head was hanged at the square that now bears his name and is the main square in Ouro Preto.<\/p>\n
At Tiradentes Square, you can buy local handicraft, the traditional sweets from Minas Gerais, and even cacha\u00e7a (cane spirit). It is where the locals go for fun. Most of the bars, restaurants and pizza parlours in Ouro Preto are there. This, however, is not the main heritage of the city. The main attraction for visitors of the former capital of Minas Gerais (which becomes the seat of the state government every April 21st) is in its museums, such as Museu da Inconfid\u00eancia, which houses objects used at the time of the Inconfid\u00eancia and where many of the rebels of 1789 are buried. Taking a stroll, you can look at the original architecture of the houses and the streets of stone that have not lost their original style.<\/p>\n
Ouro Preto also houses a stretch of Estrada Real (the Royal Road), that reaches the city of Paraty, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, and the state of S\u00e3o Paulo. The road was widely used by the gold-seeking bandeirantes. And also to send the ore found to the coast.<\/p>\n
Aside from a stroll across the natural tracks of Estrada Real, the churches deserve the attention of visitors. The project for one of them, Nossa Senhora do Ros\u00e1rio (Our Lady of the Rosary), is one of the boldest in Brazilian Baroque. Its fa\u00e7ade and lateral domes are round-shaped, which was unusual for the standards of the time, in the mid-18th century. <\/p>\n
In some cases, as that of Santu\u00e1rio da Imaculada Concei\u00e7\u00e3o do Antonio Dias (Sanctuary of the Immaculate Conception of Antonio Dias), the architectural project was made by Aleijadinho\u2019s father, Manuel Francisco Lisboa. This is the church that houses the Aleijadinho museum and in it, both the father and the son are buried. Aleijadinho\u2019s importance and influence are seen in nearly all of the city\u2019s churches. Nossa Senhora das Merc\u00eas e Miseric\u00f3rdia (Our Lady of Mercies and Forgiveness), for example, was built between 1731 and 1733. However, once completed, its fa\u00e7ade was changed to include a central tower, designed by the artist. Antonio Francisco Lisboa was nicknamed Aleijadinho (Little Cripple) because a serious illness, probably Hansen\u2019s, made him lose his feet and hands, but did not stop him from working.<\/p>\n
In 2003, a fire hit some buildings in the city, which was declared a world heritage site by the Unesco in 1980. The buildings affected were restored and the incident does not prevent visitors from enjoying the best that the city has to offer: its natural landscape, which reveals itself in between the slopes, and its architectural treasures.<\/p>\n
Where to stay<\/b><\/p>\n
Pousada Minas Gerais
Rua Xavier da Veiga, 303, Centre. Tel.: (+55 31) 3551-5506<\/p>\n
Grande Hotel de Ouro Preto
Rua Senador Rocha Lagoa, 168, Centre. Tel.: (+55 31) 3551-1488<\/p>\n
Pousada dos Inconfidentes
Pra\u00e7a Tiradentes, 134, Centre. Tel.: (+55 31) 3551-5276<\/p>\n
Pousada Bela Vista
Rua Padre Rolim, 964, S\u00e3o Crist\u00f3v\u00e3o. Tel.: (+55 31) 3551-3639<\/p>\n
Where to eat<\/b><\/p>\n
Casa dos Contos
Rua Camilo de Brito, 21, Centre. Tel.: (+55 31) 3551-5359<\/p>\n
Casa do Ouvidor
Rua Conde de Bobadela, 42, Centre. Tel.: (+55 31) 3551-2141<\/p>\n
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In between one slope and another, a church here, an ancient building there, the city tells its story. Ouro Preto was once the Minas Gerais state capital and now its architectural relics lure tourists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2317,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-38288","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-tourism"},"wps_subtitle":"In between one slope and another, a church here, an ancient building there, the city tells its story. Ouro Preto was once the Minas Gerais state capital and now its architectural relics lure tourists.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2317"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38288\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}