April 14 – Congonahs and Ouro Preto

We are off to another location but first we asked Harold drive us back to the train station…

and river for a few photos. 

As usual, the countryside was interesting

with a few horse drawn convenances thrown into the mix.

Saw a sculpture made of steel just outside an iron ore plant.

Our destination today is Ouro Preto (Black Gold).  But first we stopped in Congonhas to see the Sanctuary of Bom Jesus de Matosinhos Church complex.  This complex is famous for the large number of sculptures that were created by the artist Aleijadinho, also known as “The Cripple”.  He was born a slave and later freed.  We is considered one of the greatest sculpturers of Brazil.  In his later years he developed a degenerative disease that eventually cost him partial use of his hands so he had his chisel and hammer tied to his hands so that he could continue to work. 

We first visited the various chapels on the grounds.  They were somewhat small and we could only view the works through the slats in the doors.  They represent the Passion of Christ. All of the pieces are polychrome, that is, they were sculped from wood and then painted by a painter. 

The first we visited was a Last Supper scene with 14 pieces (Aleijadinho decided that there would have been a couple of servants there).  Only the two pieces at the ends of the semi-circle table were complete…the others, including Jesus, were only sculpted to the waist with the lack of a lower body covered up by the table. 

Other scenes included Jesus praying in the Garden of Olives while Peter and two other disciples slept,

Judas’ betrayal,

Jesus in jail,

the flagellation and crowning with thorns,

Jesus carrying the Cross,

and the Crucifixion. 

From there we headed up to the church itself.  

The courtyard had soapstone statues of the 12 Apostles, also carved by Aleijadinho.  The story the guide told us is that Aleijadinho didn’t know what Apostles would look like so he used some Asian or Chinese reference so the statues all have a definite Asian look to them, particularly the turban-like hats they wore.

The interior of the church was beautiful.

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More Sanctuary of Bom Jesus De Matosinhos
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From Congonahs we had another long drive that took us to Ouro Preto (Black Gold).  Ouro Preto was a major mining center during the gold rush in the mid-1700’s.  Most gold mined in Brazil went to Portugal.  However, gold could stay in Brazil if used for religious purposes.  So the churches here have scads of gold on everything. 

This town also has retained much of its original architecture and its narrow, cobblestone streets.  It is quite hilly. 

And there was a small craft market near one of the churches we visited.  

Our first stop there was Our Lady of the Pilar.  

Just inside the door was a massive wooden screen that separates the entrance from the interior of the church. 

This baroque church contains the second largest amount of gold of all the churches in Brazil with over 400 Kilos (880 pounds) of gold leaf and silver powder used in the décor. 

And the wooden ceilings are covered with colorful murals.

We visited the Sacristy with a really long credenza.

We were also able to go down into the "basement" where there were a number of things on display.  

We then headed over to the main square where Harold had a major problem finding parking.  He eventually dropped us off at a buffet and kept looking for parking. There was a huge group of students at the buffet.  Later we ran into them several times as we toured the town. 

The next stop was the Church of St. Francis of Assisi, a small Rococo church.  Aleijadinho was the architect of the building and did some soapstone carving for the interior of the church as well as one on the exterior over the door.

Oddly, the interior didn't seem quite as over-the-top Baroque as some churches we’ve seen here in Brazil but it was still pretty elaborate. 

The back of the altar looked like a wedding cake...several elaborate tiers.

The ceiling was one massive mural.

Next door was a small church cemetery.

From there the walk took us by the Theater.  It was under renovation, so we didn’t get to see inside.

Then it was on the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.  

The huge nave featured a lot of gold…

a mural ceiling,

and lots of statues.

The church also featured a lot of blue and white tile from Portugal.  Because tiles are heavy to transport some of the tiles on the edges of the scenes trace the scene instead of being square.  Very ingenious to lighten the load. 

And we visited the Sacristy here as well. 

This is an old-fashioned confessional.  Instead of a "closet" the priest sits on one side of this wooden "wall" and the parishioner on the other.    

And there was cemetery adjacent to the church as well.

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More Ouro Preto Churches
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From there we went to the Museum of the Inconfidencia.  The Inconfidencia were a separatist group, the late 1700’s that was led by Tiradentes.  The movement failed, Tiradentes was hanged and the rest of his conspirators was exiled to Africa.  Later, after Brazil became a republic, the group was considered national heros.  Their bodies were returned to Brazil and are buried in this museum. 

The museum was an interesting mix of furniture, religious artifacts, and other memorabilia.

After we were done sightseeing we headed to our new hotel, Pousada do Arcanjo.  A very interesting old building.  The bellmen were dressed in what appeared to be Portuguese knee britches. 

Our room is up on the top floor and has slanted ceilings.  It is probably the largest hotel room we have had in some time.  Really gorgeous. 

It started raining really right after our arrival.  So we were unable to use the balcony off our room.