Founded in 1698 as Vila Rica - Rich Village - the town became the center of a new gold rush. By 1750, its population had grown to over 110,000, making it one of the largest cities in the Americas. Twice as many people as New York City at the time. Five times more than Rio de Janeiro. The state capital was transferred here from Mariana in 1720, and the city spent the next 177 years as the administrative heart of Minas Gerais. So many Brazilian cities and neighborhoods were named after this one that even an American town - Brazil, Indiana - traces its name back through the trail of ambition Ouro Preto inspired. When the gold ran out at the end of the 19th century, growth stopped overnight. When the capital moved to the newly planned city of Belo Horizonte in 1897, the population collapsed. The lack of new construction that followed was the best thing that ever happened to the architecture.

Ouro Preto sits about 100 km from Belo Horizonte, 400 km from Rio, 680 km from Sao Paulo. There is no commercial airport here - the nearest is Confins, serving Belo Horizonte, with car or bus onward. BR-356 brings drivers southeast from Belo Horizonte; coming up from Rio and Juiz de Fora, the route is BR-040 to Conselheiro Lafaiete, then the Ouro Branco Highway, then MG-443 for the final dozen kilometers. Buses arrive at a terminal on the northwestern edge of town - from there, it is an easy downhill walk into the historic center. Pass Verde runs sixteen daily buses from Belo Horizonte, two-hour trips each. Once you arrive, prepare for leg work. The town's small size and brutally steep hills make walking the only practical way to explore the center. Cobblestones. Grades that humble visitors. Bring proper shoes.

Ouro Preto became Brazil's first UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980, and most of the case for that designation lives inside its churches. Holy Week brings lavish celebrations to the streets around Matriz da Nossa Senhora da Conceicao, with intense floral carpets laid down on Saturday night and processions that have moved through these lanes for centuries. The churches are famous not only for architecture but for the carved sculptures of Aleijadinho - Brazil's most celebrated colonial artist, a sculptor of African descent who despite losing the use of his hands and feet to a degenerative disease produced an enormous body of work with tools strapped to his wrists. His figures are visible across the region, including at Congonhas 55 km away, where Bom Jesus sanctuary houses some of his masterpieces and which is itself a UNESCO site. To see Aleijadinho is to understand what colonial Brazil's Baroque revival, the Barroco Mineiro, actually produced.

Ouro Preto is also a university town. The Federal University of Ouro Preto traces back to Dom Pedro II founding the Escola de Minas - the Mining School - here in 1876 to train engineers for Brazil's mineral wealth. The school has since become one of the country's top engineering universities. South America's first pharmacy school was also established here in 1839. Today's students mostly live in communal houses called republicas - a system borrowed from the University of Coimbra in Portugal and unique within Brazil. Some are owned by the university, most are privately run, and each has its own history, traditions, and hazing rituals. This mix of preserved colonial fabric and intense student life gives Ouro Preto its split personality: silent baroque courtyards in one direction, loud parties in the other. During Carnaval, the steep streets mean the raucous sound trucks of Salvador are impossible; people just party in the lanes themselves, which has its own charm.

Mariana sits 15 km away - the oldest city in Minas Gerais and the state's first capital, another well-preserved colonial town. A historic steam train with panoramic passenger cars runs between the two, on a railway whose construction began in 1883 when gold was still flowing. The trip costs around R$50 one-way. Ouro Branco, 30 km off, keeps its own collection of 18th-century buildings and a rock formation called Serra do Ouro Branco - the town named for white gold rather than black. Congonhas, 55 km south, is the Aleijadinho pilgrimage. For a different kind of journey, Vicosa 130 km southeast is a university town running roughly 500 academic events a year. And any traveler passing through Belo Horizonte can reach Brumadinho and Inhotim, one of the largest outdoor contemporary art installations in the world. Ouro Preto fits well as a base for multiple days in this corner of Minas Gerais.