Ouro Preto

I took a bit of a detour en route from Rio de Janeiro to São Paulo, to spend a couple of days in Ouro Preto, which is one of the most beautiful and best-preserved colonial towns in the whole of South America. Ouro Preto (which means Black Gold in Portuguese), was the centre of Brazil's gold mining industry in the 18th century, and it was the wealth generated by this that paid for the construction of the baroque churches and grand administrative buildings that are dotted around the town.

To give you an idea of what the town looks like, there are a couple of views of Ouro Preto here and here. This is a photo of Tiradentes Square, which is Ouro Preto's main square, and Rua São José is one of the main streets in the city centre. However, Ouro Preto is best known for its churches, and I've been to see quite a lot of them, including Igreja Nossa Senhora do Rosário, Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Conceição de Antônio Dias and Igreja São Francisco de Assis (below).

The second of these churches also houses the Aleijadinho Museum. Aleijadinho was a sculptor and architect who sculpted the exteriors of several of the churches in Ouro Preto, including Igreja São Francisco de Assis (which he also designed), as well as numerous statues that are situated inside the churches. He did this despite losing his hands and his feet due to illness at the age of 40, after which he continued to sculpt with a hammer and chisel strapped to his arms (Aleijadinho is a nickname that means 'little cripple' in Portuguese).

Other than the churches, I paid a quick visit to the Teatro Municipal, which was inaugurated in 1770, making it the oldest theatre in the whole of the Americas that's still in operation. I also went for a tour of the Museu da Inconfidência (Conspiracy Museum) - see the photo below - which is at the opposite end of Tiradentes Square from the photo that I linked to earlier.

The museum describes the history of Ouro Preto, concentrating on the Inconfidência Mineira (Minas Conspiracy), which was an independence movement that began in Ouro Preto in 1789. The movement was led by a man called Tiradentes (which means 'tooth puller') - he was a dentist, hence the nickname. The conspiracy failed, and Tiradentes was tried and then hanged in the square that now bears his name. Since the late 19th century Tiradentes has been considered a national hero in Brazil.

That's about all I have to report from Ouro Preto. After yet another overnight bus journey I've now moved on to São Paulo, a city with 19 million inhabitants,which is a bit of a change of scenery once again.