Ouro Preto, city of black gold

UNESCO Courier, March, 1991 by Augusto C. Da Silva Telles

THE problems of reconciling the traditional and the modern are raised in particularly acute form at Ouro Preto, a historic city in Brazil's Minas Gerais state which is today surrounded by an industrial zone and lies on an important highway.

Ouro Preto (Portuguese for "Black Gold") grew out of a mining settlement which developed on the lower slope of the Serra do Ouro Preto in the early eighteenth century when miners flocked into the region to prospect for gold in the rivers and on the mountain slopes. In 1711 it was given the status of a city and the name of Vila Rica. It is said that many houses used the entrances to mine shafts as their cellars.

In this rugged setting, narrow crooked streets and alleys were built along the mountain spur without any overall plan. The central square, today known as the Praga Tiradentes after a hero of Brazil's independence struggle, was not built until the mid-eighteenth century. Around it stand the old colonial governor's palace, the town hall and the colonial penitentiary.

The houses, of varying height, are strung haphazardly along steep, winding streets. Their picturesque beauty charms visitors and leads them from one surprise to another. The diversity of the site and the outstanding views are accentuated by the outlines of churches and chapels silhouetted high on the slopes or blending into the townscape. The French specialist Michel Parent has described how "This straggling urban fabric reveals itself gradually to the eye, which slowly comes to dominate it, bringing together near and far, narrow streets set deep in the valley, a bell-tower atop a distant hill.... it does not have the obvious advantage of a magnificent site, its beauty is at first hinted at, then becomes elusive, before finally yielding itself to the visitor."*

The mid-eighteenth century was the period of Ouro Preto's greatest splendour, thanks to the abundance of gold which brought it wealth. The houses dating from that period were built in dressed stone. Decorated with a profusion of friezes and scrollwork, their architecture is more elaborate than the others. Many of these buildings are in CondeBobadela street and on the Praca Tiradentes, where the Casa dos Contos, the governor's palace, and the town hall are notable for the elegance and force of their late baroque style.

The religious architecture of Ouro Preto is also remarkable for its originality, diversity and quality. Some of the buildings are among the most beautiful examples of baroque art not only in Brazil but in the world.

On either side of the spur of rock topped by the Praga Tiradentes are the Carmelite church of Our Lady and the church of St. Francis of Assisi. The architect and sculptor of these two churches was Antonio Francisco Lisboa, better known as "O Aleijadinho" ("the little cripple"). The church of St. Francis, which dates from 1764, was Aleijadinho's first project and his masterwork. It is remarkable for an ingenious combination of curves and ellipses, as well as the composition, of an antonishing expressive force, of the frontispiece carved in "pedra-sabfflo" (a kind of alabaster).

Problems of growth

Ouro Preto was the seat of the military government and then the capital of Minas Gerais until the state administration was transferred to the new city of Belo Horizonte in 1897. As a result of this change in status and the exhaustion of its gold deposits, the city went into decline. If Ouro Preto today still has a certain vitality, it is because of its position as a university city. When it was classified as a historic monument in 1938, it was living in the past. The city had virtually ceased to grow, and conservation activity was limited to religious and civic buildings.

In the 1950s, an aluminium plant was built at nearby Saramenha, and the highway between Saramenha and Bela Horizonte was metalled. Population growth and economic activity suddenly picked up again. Road traffic also sharply increased, largely because of the heavy trucks serving the Saramenha complex. This development threatened one of the finest jewels of Brazil's historical and artistic heritage, and the institution responsible for its safeguard asked UNESCO to provide technical support for Ouro Preto.

In 1966 international specialists carried out studies with a view to defining possible zones of development, reducing demographic growth and preserving the old city. Their proposals were taken up and worked out in greater detail by a team of Brazilian technicians acting under the auspices of the federal, provincial and municipal authorities. A number of measures were adopted, including the construction of a new road around the site and a bus station outside the historic centre so that buses and coaches do not need to park on or near the Praca Tiradentes. Trucks and other heavy-duty vehicles are not allowed in the city, where a new urbanization zone is being created. Slopes subject to landslides are being consolidated. in 1979 a geological map was made of the whole urban area in order to indicate zones which can be built on without risk.