A small but well-curated museum on the sanctuary site, opened in 2009 and tucked into a modern structure that does not compete with the historic complex around it. Exhibits cover the building of the sanctuary, the work and biography of Aleijadinho, and the broader context of religious art in colonial Minas Gerais.
The biographical material is the most interesting — letters, account books, and copies of the medical descriptions that document Aleijadinho's progressive disability — and the museum makes useful sense of what you have just seen on the terraces outside. Allow forty-five minutes to an hour.