Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
part of the Inconfidência movement (see box, p.159); the house was appropriated as
a prison in 1789, where conspirator Manuel da Costa died in his cell. In 1803 the
property was seized to pay Macedo's debts and it served as the
Fazenda Real
, a foundry
where the Crown extracted its fifth of the gold and assembled armed convoys to escort
it down to Rio for shipment to Portugal.
The collection is no more than moderately interesting and is labelled in Portuguese
only: the
Casa do Moeda
exhibit in the 1821 annexe (used as the mint), charting the
tortured history of Brazil's currency; a collection of dusty old books and documents;
and several temporary art exhibitions on the ground floor. The building itself is half
the attraction: an imposing four-storey staircase dominates the entrance hall, and the
mansion is constructed around a beautiful courtyard large enough for a dozen cavalry
troopers. The most interesting places radiate off the courtyard: the tiny
cell
(behind the
stairs) where da Costa died in 1789, the
slave quarters
or
senzala
, which now contain a
display of old tools, manacles and chains, and the old
slave kitchen
with its giant scales.
2
Igreja de São Francisco de Assis
Largo do Coimbra • Tues-Sun 8.30-11.30am & 1.30-5pm • R$8
The most beautiful church in Ouro Preto, the
Igreja de São Francisco de Assis
, was
begun in 1765, and no other contains more works by Aleijadinho. The magnificent
exterior soapstone panels are his, as is virtually all the virtuoso carving, in both wood
and stone, inside; Aleijadinho also designed the church and supervised its construction.
In 1801 the church commissioners contracted the best painter of the
barroco mineiro
,
Manuel da Costa Ataíde
, to decorate the
ceilings
. It took him nine years, using natural
dyes made from plant juices and powdered iron ore, and his work has stood the test
of time far better than other church paintings of the period. The squirming mass of
cherubs and saints is framed within a cunning trompe l'oeil effect, which extends the
real Baroque pillars on the sides of the nave into painted ones on the ceiling, making it
seem like an open-air canopy through which you can glimpse clouds. There are also
painted
azulejos
in the apse that look remarkably like the real thing.
Museu do Aleijadinho
With the town's Conceição church closed (see box below), items from the
Museu do
Aleijadinho
(
W
museualeijadinho.com.br) have been temporarily located inside São
Francisco (same hours). You'll find the collection in the side rooms and sacristy at the back,
including the four magnificent rosewood lions that once served as supports for the plinth
on which co
ns were laid. Aleijadinho, never having seen a lion, drew from imagination
and produced medieval monsters with the faces of monkeys. There's also a sensual crucifix
and a baptismal font from 1779, as well as a small collection of paintings by various
contemporaries, including a replica of a portrait of Aleijadinho by Euclásio Pena Ventura.
Igreja de Santa Efigênia
Rua Santa Efigênia • Should be open again by 2015 • R$8 • Call ahead to visit:
T
31 3551 5047 • From Praça Tiradentes walk along Rua
Cláudio Manoel down to the river, cross over and climb up Rua Santa Efigênia
Slightly out from the town centre is the fascinating
Igreja de Santa Efigênia
, the church
for slaves, located on a hill 1km from Praça Tiradentes. At the time of writing the
CONCEIÇÃO CLOSED
Note that one of Ouro Preto's grand colonial churches, the
Nossa Senhora da Conceição
, has
closed for extensive renovations; it's not expected to reopen until at least 2015 or 2016. It's
primarily famous for being the church Aleijadinho belonged to and where he is buried. The
one-time cut-throat Antônio Dias, who founded Ouro Preto and died old and rich in 1727, left his
fortune to build this church on the spot of his first camp - so this is where it all began, and, with
the death of Aleijadinho, where the glory days of Ouro Preto can also be said to have ended.
