Free Wisdom Online: The Churches of Ouro Preto

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We went to Ouro Preto to see the churches, and there was no shortage
of them.  There are no photos from inside the churches, however, since
photography is prohibited inside all of them and they seemed to be
serious about it.  I thought it was a bit lame, but complied.

All the churches in Ouro Preto were constructed in 18th century in a
similar style, apparently known as "barroco mineiro."  The later ones
were constructed with participation of a famous Brazilian sculptor
commonly known as "Aleijadinho" - "the little cripple".  (Aleijadinho
developed a degenerative condition after 40, progressively losing
control of his hands, but continued working, tying tools to his arms.)
The other sculptors and architects of Ouro Preto churches seem to
always be described by their relation to Aleijadinho - "this church
was built by the father of Aleijadinho," "this altar was constructed
by the teacher of Aleijadinho," etc.  Sort of like "six degrees of
Aleijadinho."

Apart from architect's relation to Aleijadinho, the most important
piece of trivia about each church is the number of kilograms of gold
used in its construction.  The amount of gold and the aleijadinhoness
of the church are inversely related, since at the times of Aleijadinho
the gold was already running out.  The less gilted Aleijadinho
buildings are located at the center of the town, while the more
guilted pre-Aleijadinho churches are on the two ends of the town.

Aleijadinho's participation in the construction of the church is often
marked with his signature monkey-lion sculptures.  Those creatures
roughly look like lions, but their faces are strangely monkey-like.
As I understand, those strange sculptures were not meant to represent
Aleijadinho's vision of the future of genetic engineering, but simply
reflected the fact that he had never seen a lion in his life.

The Churches of Ouro Preto

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