Ouro Preto is a treasure trove of colonial architecture in the state of Minas Gerais, and synonymous with the mythical “gold rush”. They say that Ouro Preto is the star of the former Estrada Real. Ouro Preto, was born in 1711 and is located 93 kilometers from Belo Horizonte, was the first capital of Minas Gerais in the nineteenth century. In 1933 the Brazilian political Getulio Vargas decided to preserve it as a “national monument and national artistic heritage,” attentive to the value of its baroque churches decorated with works of Antonio Francisco Lisboa “O Aleijadinho” (the biggest Brazilian artist of the colonial period), together with other creators, as the painter Manuel da Costa Ataíde and Portuguese sculptor Francisco Xavier de Brito. (más…)