Norman's Blog

Tuesday, 15 January 2019

Ouro Petro

This is the site of an 18th century gold rush. The first colonists arrived in 1698 and the first gold mine was opened in 1710 and there were to be more than 450 mines dug into the hillside.

The main square is dominated by the white washed walls of the Governors Palace complete with bartizans. In 1868 the building became Brazils first Mineralogy University.

There are other old buildings opening onto the square such as these two buildings used as offices.

Another old building with balconies and railings.

The building opposite the Governors Palace was the prison.

One of the many churches in the town and the whole of the entire of the town is a UNESCO designated area. The church with the most impressive insides is the Church of Our Lady of Pilar which boasts 434kgs of silver and gold decorating the internal surfaces.

The Church of St Frances of Assisi whose ceiling is a masterpiece of painting by Aleijadinho.

There are many steep narrow cobble streets that led off from the main square.

An interesting old building on a street corner on a steep street.

I snapped this picture of a dog looking up the street.

The town grew to a population of over 150,000 people when cities like New York and Rio had populations of 50,000 and 30,000 respectively with 70% of the population being slaves from Africa but when the gold ran out the population crashed to just 10,000. Manu buildings were abandoned but the local university renovated many of them and use them as lodgings for students.

Aleijadinho's house.

The entrance to the oldest mine in the town. The owner built his house in front of the mine hiding it from the tax authorities who taxed the property as a house, never realising that there was a mine behind it which would have been taxed at a higher rate.