Ouro Preto, state Minas Gerais

Оуро Прето, Минас Жерайс См. Фото-галерею

It is not known for sure who discovered the first gold nugget. It was some day between 1693 and 1698. Probably the expedition had Duarte Lopes in command. In that long-gone era, the so-called bandeirantes adventurers forced their wild way up and down the mountains of Minas Gerais' territory in search of the uncertain mountain range of Sabarabuçu that paved tales of native indians. They were tough men, forged by adversities, but they also did not lose sensitivity to recognize beauty. So be it, that our anonymous discoverer was certainly curious by those intriguing small dark little rocks his hands came across, while reaching down to the Tripuí creek riverbed (Tupi indian language for speedy water). Black gold, eclipsing a sun of the purer carat, covered by a thin layer of iron oxide.

Vila Rica turned to be the Imperial Cidade de Ouro Preto in 1823, immediately following Brazil's independence in 1822, and remained as capital of Minas Gerais Province until 1897, when the current capital Belo Horizonte was chartered. The 18th-century years are gone for ever, but they endowed a future legacy that today turned up as a gift representing one of the most interesting histories of the human Saga.

All the gold of the world is useless if one can not show it off. This was not different in Vila Rica. Faith was one of the escape valves for accumulated power by sectors of the emergent Minas Gerais' society of the 18th century. Powerful and secular religious Orders portrayed the segmentation of the population. The Order of the powerful people, of the blacks, of the mulattos... Each one had as a purpose to build the most beautiful church, to demonstrate its power and influence. A kind of non-declared competition was initiated, of which gold was the fuel, and it spilled on altars, images and other liturgical pieces. Minas Gerais was living a Renaissance-type era, where there were patrons, the arts flourished and geniuses were born.