  Located 60 miles (100 km) from Belo Horizonte, Ouro Preto was the center of the late 17th Century gold rush. First known as Vila Rica, it was just a mountain village when bands of adventurers from the Atlantic coast came in search of slaves and gold. Near Vila Rica they found a strange black stone and sent samples to Portugal. In fact, they had discovered gold (the black coloration was from iron oxide in the soil). Vila Rica was renamed Ouro Preto (black gold) and the gold rush was underway. By 1750, Ouro Preto had a population of 80,000 at that time larger than that of New York City. Jesuit priests also arrived, bringing with them the ideas and artistic concepts of Europe; they insisted that their churches, financed by the gold from the mines, be built in the baroque style. Today, Ouro Preto has Brazil's purest collection of baroque art and architecture. Five museums and 13 churches scattered among low hills and picture book cottages make Ouro Preto a Grimm Brothers' fairy-tale town. In 1981, UNESCO declared Ouro Preto "a world cultural monument". Find Adventures in Ouro Preto
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