Founded at the end of the 17th century, Ouro Preto (Black Gold) was the focal point of the gold rush and Brazil’s golden age in the 18th century. With the exhaustion of the gold mines in the 19th century, the city’s influence declined but many churches, bridges and fountains remain as a testimony to its past prosperity and the exceptional talent of the Baroque sculptor Aleijadinho.

A fabulous and lovely 18th-century town village deeply stuck in the valleys of Minas Gerais' mountains. Anachronistic, amazing, fascinating... Ouro Preto resurges as a vision, a mirage amidst the dense mist of dawn. The impression for first-time visitors is exciting. All of a sudden, it seems as if a journey back in time is a reality. A pilgrimage of the living mixing up with a pilgrimage of the dead. Historical and anonymous personages spreading fallacies and mixing themselves shoulder to shoulder to the contemporaries.