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Published: November 30th 2010
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Nestled in a valley and surrounded by forested mountains, picturesque Ouro Preto, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has a gorgeous setting for its perfectly-restored, 18c colonial center. Its narrow, uneven, cobblestone streets wind up and down the steeply-pitched hills and ravines on which the town is built--totally charming, but hard on the hips and knees.
The steeples of 23 Baroque churches can always be seen over the white-washed colonial buildings with their bright, colorful doors and window frames and red-tiled roofs. And, like the rest of Minas Gerais state, it had some of the best food in Brazil.
Originally named Vila Rica de Ouro Preto (Rich City of Black Gold), its mines produced more gold than any other city in the new world and was thought by some to be the long-sought El Dorado. It was also like a sister city to my earlier-visited Paraty. Both thrived during the 18c and had similar architecture. However, Ouro Preto had been much wealthier because it was the source of the gold and gems that were transported to Paraty and then shipped to gluttonous Portugal's coffers.
During the height of the town's wealth, it had a population of 110,000 (mostly slaves)
and was larger and richer than New York (50,000) or Rio (20,000). This previously backwater town was flooded with artisans and goods from Europe and Asia and its churches dripped with gold, which Paraty's did not. Supposedly, 400 pounds of gold were used to gild the interior of Our Lady of Pilar (see photo).
Minas Gerais (General Mines) is still a major source of precious and semi-precious gemstones, and many stores had expensive, exquisite stones and jewelry. Though my eyes were tempted to splurge, my purse reminded me that it needed to stretch another three years. I slated my desire for beauty in the fabulous Museum of Science and Technology's displays of gold, gems and crystals.
My eyes also feasted on the beauty of the well-restored churches with their delicate sculptures and paintings. Each day, I visited one or two in my wanderings around town. In a yet-unrestored one, I learned that it's not necessary to re-gild the interiors to restore them. The grime from the centuries only needs to be very carefully removed. Handy, since I can't imagine a modern government putting its resources into gilding old churches.
The beauty in many of Ouro Preto's churches
is due to the work of the foremost sculptor of the Brazilian Baroque, inspiring Antonio Francisco Lisboa, 1738-1814, known as Aleijandinho, the Little Cripple. Born of a Portuguese architect and an African slave, he showed promise as an artist and received some early training, but developed his own style which was less florid and more Rococo.
He was already a famous sculptor working in the many churches being built in the state when he lost the use of his hands and feet from a disease at the age of 30. Undaunted, he had a mallet and a chisel strapped on his arms and continued to sculpture graceful, delicate angels and other figures, church facades and pulpits that advanced Brazilian art past some of the excesses of the earlier Baroque. He's now the patron saints of Brazilian arts.
Another great Brazilian hero from Ouro Preto was a dentist nicknamed Tiradentes, the tooth puller. In 1789, he and his cohorts in the secret
Inconfidencia Mineira movement were the first to revolt against the exorbitant Portuguese colonial taxes. The revolt was crushed, but because his was Brazil's first independence movement, his nickname, Tiradentes, now graces many plazas and legislative buildings throughout
Brazil, and Ouro Preto's Inconfidencia Museum, housed in a beautiful, stone colonial building tells his story.
The Inconfidencia Museum and Ouro Preto's other colonial buildings were preserved because in the 19th century, the gold and thus the town's importance had given out. The capital of the state was moved from there to Bela Horizonte, a huge city little-visited by tourists that has industrialized, modernized and grown (ugly) with its capital status. Once again, seeming misfortune was turned into unforeseen riches.
The state of Minas Gerais is famous for having the best food in the country. A yummy dish was
tutu a mineira--black beans, roasted manioc flour, fried egg, and sausage and meat that could easily be picked out. Deserts were tropical fruit, guava jam with fresh white cheese or sickly-sweet concoctions made with condensed milk and various flavors.
At self-serve, "per kilo" restaurants, I could try a spoonful of many different dishes without committing a whole meal to any (handy for a picky eater), and pay by weight for what I took. This was quite affordable when taking only a very moderate amount. Hardier eaters went for the all-you-can-eat buffets.
After days of meandering the winding
streets and nearby hills, visiting churches and museums and the nearby colonial town of Mariana, I bundled up in my thermal underwear, turtleneck, sweater and fleece, hat and gloves for the arctic temperatures in South America's overnight buses. After this town of 67,000, I was off to the biggest metropolis in the southern hemisphere, San Paulo.
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