Congonhas do Campo

Located in a valley and surrounded by impressive mountains, Congonhas do Campo was an important mining center and large fortunes were extracted from it. The architectonic and artistic complex of the Bom Jesus dos Matosinhos Basílica was recognized as a World Heritage site by Unesco in 1985.

Finished in the 2nd half of the 18th century, the sanctuary consists of a church with a magnificent Rococo interior; an outdoor stairway decorated with statues of the prophets; and seven chapels illustrating the Stations of the Cross, in which the polychrome sculptures by Aleijadinho represent masterpieces of Baroque art.

In the 18th century, the devotion of the pioneers entering Minas Gerais in search for gold, was responsible for a remarkable blossoming of religious art, full of baroque reminiscences, influenced by rococo currents and pregnant with modern expressionist invention.

At Congonhas do Campo, the wish of a Portuguese immigrant who had been miraculously cured of a crippling infirmity was the impetus for the construction of one of Christian art's most amazing groupings of monuments. The baroque ensemble of the Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Congonhas is considered Aleijadinhos masterpiece showing an aesthetic dimension which is unknown in Europe.

Poignant and disgraced humanity brings together in the same suffering Christ and its executioners and places on equal footing the sixty - four protagonists of the Passion Play and the spectator, who here, more than anything else is a pilgrim.

See also: Paraty - Ouro Preto