Ouro Preto Old Town

Ouro Preto Old Town (World Heritage)

Ouro Preto is called “black gold” in German, referring to the dark discoloration of the immense gold deposits around the city due to iron oxide contamination. Around 1200 t were mined from 1700 to 1820, almost 80% of global production. Magnificent baroque facades, such as those of the Igreja São Francisco de Assis and the Igreja Nossa Senhora do Pilar, are still reminiscent of the golden times.

Ouro Preto Old Town: Facts

Official title: Ouro Preto old town
Cultural monument: Colonial city with the Praça Tiradentes and the former governor’s palace, the Museu da Inconfidência in the old prison, the Casa dos Contos (1782), the Nossa Senhora da Conceição church, a Baroque masterpiece by Aleijadinho, the Nossa Senhora da Monte do Carmo church and the most famous church by Ouro Preto, São Francisco de Assis, with the pulpit made of soap stone (1777-80)
Continent: America
Country: Brazil, Minas Gerais
Location: Ouro Preto, southeast of Belo Horizonte
Appointment: 1980
Meaning: Evidence of the Brazilian Gold Rush and the “Golden Age”

Ouro Preto old town: history

1711 Establishment of Vila Rica
1727-60 Matriz Nossa Senhora da Conceição
1735-51 annual gold tax for the Portuguese crown 2142 kg of gold
1738-1814 most important architect of the Brazilian Baroque, Antônio Francisco Lisboa
1749-69 Casa da Opera
1789 Execution of the freedom fighter Joaquim José da Silva, known as »Tiradentes« (»Tooth Puller«)
1823 Renamed Ouro Preto (“Black Gold”)
1839 Foundation of the mining academy
1889-97 Capital of Minas Gerais
1969 Foundation of the university

Gold rush, uprisings, cultural bloom in the rhythm of the baroque

In the evening, students from the mining academy, late hippies and dropouts meet on the cobblestones of the picturesque Praça Tiradentes to chat, flirt and play guitar – they bring life to the most legendary, most important of the gold and diamond towns. Ouro Preto is a fascinating architectural gem: one baroque church seems more beautiful than the other, many historical details inspire the imagination. Today it is hard to believe that this place surpassed even New York in wealth during the gold rush. And that’s why it was first called Vila Rica, »Rich City«, while the current name »Black Gold« recalls the story of its origins: In 1695 a mulatto, it is said, found black, strangely shiny grains while washing in a mountain stream; the then governor of Rio chewed on it and found that gold shimmered beneath the dark crust. Miners soon set out in droves; the century of economic and cultural boom began. The downside: crimes, riots, epidemics, famines, tragedies of all kinds.

On Praça Tiradentes, named after the executed leader of a freedom movement against the Portuguese crown, was once the slave market. Tens of thousands of abducted Africans toiled above and below the ground on the slopes around Ouro Preto. If they disobeyed or revolted, these “workhorses” were publicly whipped, hung up, and quartered. One of the city’s most famous sons in the 18th century was the builder and sculptor Antônio Francisco Lisboa, known as “Aleijadinho”, “the cripple”. The illegitimate son of a black slave and a Portuguese learned his trade from his father and his artist friends. Even when ailments set in, he worked as if possessed. Plagued by leprosy, rheumatism and possibly syphilis and struck with deafness and blindness, he let slaves carry him to the scaffolding and tie the tools to his mutilated hands. It was he who was the first to use the region’s grippy, smooth soapstone for church facades, pulpits and altars, and use it to create wonderful round reliefs rich in motifs. Six of the 13 churches in Ouro Preto bear his signature – especially the Franciscan church with the richly decorated chapel and the masterfully framed high altar is compared with late Baroque sacred buildings in southern Germany and Austria, which were erected at the same time. The ingenious master builder found his final resting place in the large Igreja Matritz Nossa Senhora da Conceição, built by his own father. used smooth soapstone from the region and created wonderful round reliefs rich in motifs. Six of the 13 churches in Ouro Preto bear his signature – especially the Franciscan church with the richly decorated chapel and the masterfully framed high altar is compared with late Baroque sacred buildings in southern Germany and Austria, which were erected at the same time. The ingenious master builder found his final resting place in the large Igreja Matritz Nossa Senhora da Conceição, built by his own father. used smooth soapstone from the region and created wonderful round reliefs rich in motifs. Six of the 13 churches in Ouro Preto bear his signature – especially the Franciscan church with the richly decorated chapel and the masterfully framed high altar is compared with late Baroque sacred buildings in southern Germany and Austria, which were erected at the same time. The ingenious master builder found his final resting place in the large Igreja Matritz Nossa Senhora da Conceição, built by his own father.

According to payhelpcenter, the nationally famous Easter Passion Plays always take place in the crowded confines of Nossa Senhora do Rosario dos Pretos – inside Aleijadinho played an ingenious gimmick, replacing the broken head of St. Helena in such a way that it appears clearly feminine from the church gate, up close on the other hand masculine, reminiscent of a young warrior. At the end of the 18th century, luxury prevailed in Ouro Preto: royally paid musicians, mostly mulattos, composed remarkable works for the still existing Casa da Opera, the oldest theater in Latin America, which resemble the style of Joseph Haydn. One museum is dedicated to Aleijadinho, another, in the former dungeon, to the unsuccessful uprising of the “Inconfidentes” around that lieutenant da Silva Xavier, whom everyone called “tooth puller”, “tiradentes” because of his medical skills. The Casa dos Contos is a special adornment of the “gold city” – the king’s tax officials were supposed to monitor gold mining from there, melt down all precious metals and retain a fifth. It was a futile effort. Even bishops and padres encouraged cheating on the crown and instead making generous donations to the church.

Ouro Preto Old Town