Brazil (Page 2: Minas Gerais)

The first planned city in Brazil, Belo Horizonte (BH) was laid out in the 1890s as capital of the state of Minas Gerais.  It is now the third largest city in Brazil.

Another view of BH taken from atop the Othon Palace Hotel.

Typical street scene. BH seems a more sober and conservative city than Rio or even São Paulo.

Founded by gold seekers in the 1690s, the small city of Ouro Preto lies roughly 100kms from BH. It is an almost perfectly preserved example of colonial architecture, and has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Ouro Preto - view of Rosario district, with the church Nossa Senhora do Rosario (18C) crowning the hill.

Ouro Preto - view from near the School of Mines, looking west. The mountainous setting was what prompted the move of the state capital to BH in the 1890s.

Ouro Preto - view toward Church of Santa Efigênia.

Ouro Preto - view of Praça Tiradentes, the main square. The building to the left is the former seat of city government which now a small but rich collection of colonial artefacts.

Ouro Preto - Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Carmo, finished in 1806 although the style and most of the construction dates from the late 1700s.

Ouro Preto - view of the Rosario district. The church at lower left is Igreja do Pilar, the town's oldest existing church which was begun in the 1720s.

Ouro Preto - a quite side street in a perfect city for pedestrians who are in shape!

Ouro Preto - view of the Matriz de Nossa Senhora de Conceição, burial place of Minas Gerais' most famous son, the artist and sculptor Aleijadinho.

Ouro Preto - another view of the Matriz de Nossa Senhora da Conceição (18C).

Ouro Preto - climbing up to the Church of Nossa Senhora do Rosario, looking back toward the town's center.

Ouro Preto - one of the entrances to the town is across an old bridge from the colonial period.

Atop every hill, an ancient church!

Mariana is another town dating from the colonial period, only 12kms east of Ouro Preto. Unlike the former, however, it is built mainly on flat land.

View of Mariana.  To capture this shot, I had to avoid an apparently rabid dog lurking in a nearby bush!

Like Ouro Preto, Mariana is filled with old churches, although they are less ornately decorated.

Mariana - these shops are across from the Praça Gomes Freire, Mariana's principal park complete with fountain, bandshell, and balloon sellers.

Museu Arquidiocesano (early 18C), Mariana. Designed originally as a prison for errant clerics, it now houses one of the best collections of colonial artefacts in Brazil.

This plant was blooming in vast profusion along most of the highways I drove.

Although it is a rather ugly industrial town, Congonhas is home to the Bom Jesus do Matosinhos, a masterpiece of Brazilian baroque. It was the last work of the artist Aleijadinho, who worked on the church from 1796 until his death in 1805.

Congonhas - examples of Aleijadinho's carvings of the prophets, carved from local soapstone.

Congonhas - down the steep hill from the main church are a series of six small chapels commemorating the Passion. Each contains further sculptures by Aleijadinho.

The serenity of rolling pastureland belies the fact that as recently as 150 years ago much of Minas Gerais was covered by subtropical forest.

Tiradentes is a small village just 16kms from São João del Rei, and is an almost perfectly preserved colonial relic. It was founded in 1702, and nearly every structure in the town dates from the 18C.

View from atop the main hill in Tiradentes, which was named for one of the leaders against Portuguese rule in the colonial era.

Another view of "downtown" Tiradentes. Most of the buildings seemed to be guest houses (pousadas) or bed and breakfast establishments.

For its sheer beauty and serenity, Tiradentes is hard to beat!

Tiradentes - another view of virtually the entire town.

Time seems to stand still in Tiradentes...

Another scene from the principal highway through Minas Gerais.

The small city of Caxambú is on the "Circuito das Aguas", a string of spa towns in southern Minas Gerais. It was a favorite with the Brazilian royal family in the 19C, particulrly Emperor Dom Pedro II (1840-1888).

Caxambú.  Typical of the profusion of flowers in this part of Brazil.

Bathhouse built for Dom Pedro II in the late 19C. One can have a full Turkish bath and massage here today for the equivalent of US$8.

An example of the many villas of the wealthy built in Caxambú in the late 19C and early 20C.

Minas Gerais in relation to other Brazilian states.