Ouro Prêto

Town in Brazil, and former capital of the state of Minas Gerais, 275 km/171 mi north of Rio de Janeiro; population (1996) 61,633. Gold (at Passagem), manganese, and iron ore are mined in the vicinity, which is also an agricultural and fruit-growing area. Industrial enterprises include textile mills and shoe factories. The town, built on steep, rocky ground 4,200 m/13,779 ft above sea-level, has a wealth of colonial and baroque architecture and in 1933 was made a national monument.

Ouro Prêto also has a museum of mineralogy and precious stones and a mining school. It is now a university town.

History Vila Rica, the predecessor to Ouro Prêto, was founded in 1711 and became the capital of Minas Gerais in 1721 in the early days of the gold rush. Ouro Prêto was the cradle of Brazilian independence; after a failed revolt against the Portuguese colonial authorities in 1789, the national hero José Joaquim da Silva Xavier – known as Tiradentes (‘Tooth Puller’) – was executed here in the square that now bears his name. In 1897 the state capital was moved to Belo Horizonte, thus preserving Ouro Prêto's colonial flavour.

Ouro Prêto was the home and workplace of the great 18th-century sculptor, Antonio Francisco Lisboa – nicknamed O Aleijadinho (‘the little cripple’) – who carved magnificent figures in wood and soapstone.