Ouro Preto: City of the gold
Brazilian art's cradle
The rodway between Belo Horizonte and Ouro Preto is
very pretty with green mountains and stony sierras. Ouro Preto is situated approx. 95 km
from Belo Horizonte, the capital of the State of Minas Gerais.
Ouro Preto, in English
"black gold", is the Brazil's most beautiful historic town as well one of the
most beautiful in the world. Ouro Preto becames in 1981 a world heritage by UNESCO due to
the opulence its baroque.
The city, grounded in 1711 and named Vila Rica (rich town), grews quickly and it had
78'616 inhabitants in 1776, while New York at the same time 21'000
inhabitants. It was sure the most great and maybe the most rich city of the
Americas.
Ouro Preto's prominent citizen was "Tiradentes". He was the leader of the
"Inconfidência Mineira" (1789), a conspiracy against the portuguese colonial
power. The political effects this rebellion were very important to the colony and
"Tiradentes" was never again forgotten and becames a national hero, father of
the first brazilian "battle" for its independence.
1200 t of gold were produced in the city from 1700 to 1820, approx. 80% of the world
production of this time. Some historian are sure, therefore, that the Industrial
Revolution in England was also financed with the gold and precious stones from Ouro Preto and
its region.
Gold and precious stones brought, as sooner the sugar-cane, no real development to
the country. The riches flowed to Portugal, but there also just some families profited with
it, because the largest part this wealth continued to England (André Gunder
Frank traduced from: "Kapitalismus und Unterentwicklung in Latein Amerika".
Frankfurt am Main, 1969).
There are a lot of beautiful churches, museums, nature parks etc for visiting in
Ouro Preto, but you cannot forget to visit the "Museu de Mineralogia",
at the university, and the "Museu da Inconfidência", at the downtown.
For further informations:
http://www.ouropretoturismo.com.br
Summer temperature: from 16 to
30 °C
Winter temperature: 6 to 25 °C.
20 km next to Ouro Preto
you find Mariana,
an other historic town, and the green park Pico do Itacolomi.
Other historic towns of Minas
Gerais:
- Diamantina: World
heritage by UNESCO;
- Tiradentes;
- São João Del-Rey;
- Congonhas: Sanctuary of "Bom Jesus do Matozinhos",
world heritage by UNESCO.
