Praça Minas Gerais

Praça Minas Gerais is the heart of colonial Mariana and arguably the finest colonial square in Minas Gerais. The Igreja de São Francisco de Assis and the Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Carmo face each other across the cobblestones, with the old Câmara e Cadeia — the combined town hall and jail — completing the ensemble at one end. On weekday mornings the square is pleasantly quiet compared to Ouro Preto's busier plazas.

The Igreja de São Francisco de Assis dates from 1762 and marks the transition from Portuguese Baroque toward the Mineiro style. The carved soapstone portal and the gilded interior altars are the highlights. Nossa Senhora do Carmo, begun in 1784, has a bell tower visible from across the town. Neither church charges admission, though both request donations. If you have only one afternoon in Mariana, spend it here.

things to do sight
A story
The square is one of the few in Brazil where two eighteenth-century Baroque churches face each other across the same open space. Both were built before 1790, and their soapstone carvings were worked by craftsmen trained in the same tradition as Aleijadinho — the master sculptor whose work defines the Mineiro Baroque style.