Goias Velho

Founded in 1727 as Vila Boa by bandeirantes following gold, the town was the capital of Goias until 1937, when the government built Goiania and moved. What UNESCO listed in 2001 is the intactness of a modest colonial town in the interior: low whitewashed houses with coloured frames, stone-paved streets following the Rio Vermelho, and simple churches without the wealth of Minas - Sao Francisco de Paula, the Rosario, the Boa Morte. The Procissao do Fogareu on the Wednesday of Holy Week is the town's own: hooded figures in coloured robes carrying torches run through the darkened streets re-enacting the search for Christ, with the street lights switched off. The poet Cora Coralina's riverside house is a museum.

History

The town was founded in 1727 and named after the Goyaz people who lived here before the Europeans, and its gold-rush wealth shows in buildings such as the Casa da Fundição of 1752, where gold from the mines was cast, the Museu das Bandeiras of 1761, the church of Nossa Senhora d'Abadia of 1790 with its altar painted in blue and gold, and the Colégio Sant'Ana, founded by Dominican friars in 1879. The poet Cora Coralina (1889-1985), who began writing at 14 but published her first book at 75 and made her living selling crystallised sweets, lived in one of the oldest houses in town, dating from 1782, which is now a museum (Wikipedia, Goiás, Goiás).

What you'll find

• A modest colonial capital - low whitewashed houses, unlike the wealth of Minas.
• The Procissao do Fogareu - hooded torchbearers running the darkened streets.
• Cora Coralina's house - the poet's home on the river, kept as a museum.
• Stone streets along the Rio Vermelho - the town following the water.

When to go

Holy Week for the Fogareu; May to September otherwise. Two days.

Practical notes

Heat is severe outside the winter months. During Holy Week accommodation is impossible without long advance booking. Churches keep short and irregular hours. The town is small and quiet - two days is generous outside festivals.

Nearby

Pirenopolis is east; Goiania is south-east.

Key facts