Ouro Preto is the old capital of Brazil, offering a glimpse of the colonial-era wealth of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais in all its glory through the interiors of its churches. The walls of these churches are filled with gold, which shimmered with diamonds mined in the surrounding area in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Surrounded by mountains and sloping down the slopes of a steep valley, Ouro Preto is a prized possession of Brazil, but its mountainous terrain and steep, narrow streets, no matter how attractive they are to visitors today, do not meet the needs of a growing capital. The Brazilian government, leaving Ouro Preto in a time capsule, moved to the newly built capital of Belo Horizonte.
The best examples are the 17th-century Rococo and Baroque churches of Matriz de Nossa Senhora do Pilar and São Francisco de Assis, but the city is so rich in colonial architecture that it has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Steep streets, so important in some places that they turn into staircases, are lined with elegant colonial buildings, and churches with Baroque bells crown the hills of Ouro Preto.

14 May 2024, Tuesday | 812