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Diamantina: Chica da Silva
Her story is known throughout Brazil and recalls that of a fairytale princess. A slave and a mixed-race woman, Chica lived in a mansion with João Fernandes de Oliveira, a rich and powerful diamond merchant. A Portuguese, he fell madly in love with Chica with whom he lived, had children and to whom he left the greater part of his fortune as a legacy. The large XVIII century house, with its fourteen rooms, where Chica da Silva lived from 1763 to 1771 is a tourist attraction in Diamantina, a town on the circuit of gold in Minas Gerais, recognized by the UNESCO as a Cultural Heritage of Mankind. Her story inspired the producer Carlos Diegues to make the film Xica da Silva.
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Congonhas do Campo: Aleijadinho
The sculptor and wood carver Antonio Francisco Lisboa, known as the Aleijadinho (the cripple), the greatest Brazilian artist of the colonial period was born and died in Ouro Preto (1738-1814). He was the son of an architect and head carpenter, Manuel Francisco Lisboa, and of an African slave. The nickname by which he was known was due to the deformity in his hands and legs caused by a disease he suffered as a result of syphilis. Between 1796 and 1804, the artist created the greatest number of baroque sculptures in the world, which are considered one of the most important works of art of the colonial period. In the town of Congonhas do Campo, his legacy is a total of 66 life-size figures in cedarwood, portraying scenes taken from the passion of Christ. The sculptures stand in six chapels which form the Way of the Cross, ending on a hill where the 12 life-size soapstone sculptures of the prophets stand. It is to Aleijadinho that we owe the splendour of the church of St Francis of Assis in Ouro Preto. The church is a masterpiece where we find both the genius of Aleijadinho and that of the painter Manoel da Costa Athayde, another great master of the baroque art of Minas Gerais.
Diamantina: Chica da Silva
Her story is known throughout Brazil and recalls that of a fairytale princess. A slave and a mixed-race woman, Chica lived in a mansion with João Fernandes de Oliveira, a rich and powerful diamond merchant. A Portuguese, he fell madly in love with Chica with whom he lived, had children and to whom he left the greater part of his fortune as a legacy. The large XVIII century house, with its fourteen rooms, where Chica da Silva lived from 1763 to 1771 is a tourist attraction in Diamantina, a town on the circuit of gold in Minas Gerais, recognized by the UNESCO as a Cultural Heritage of Mankind. Her story inspired the producer Carlos Diegues to make the film Xica da Silva.
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