Mariana

Mariana was founded in 1696 and was the first town, first capital and first bishopric of Minas Gerais, which is why it has a cathedral - the Se, holding an Arp Schnitger organ built in Hamburg in 1701 and shipped over as a gift from the Portuguese crown, one of very few surviving instruments by that maker anywhere and played at recitals through the week. On the Praca Minas Gerais the Sao Francisco and Carmo churches stand side by side facing the old town hall and pillory. The Mina da Passagem nearby descends by cable car into a gold working. In 2015 the Fundao tailings dam upstream collapsed, destroying the district of Bento Rodrigues and killing nineteen people in what remains Brazil's worst environmental disaster.

History

Around 16 July 1696 a band of bandeirantes led by Salvador Fernandes Furtado de Mendonça and Miguel Garcia da Cunha camped by a stream they named Ribeirão do Carmo, after Our Lady of Mount Carmel, found it rich in alluvial gold and set up a permanent camp that took the stream's name. Drawing more and more settlers and prospectors, it became Vila Albuquerque by royal decree in 1711, named after the first governor of the new captaincy of São Paulo and the Gold Mines, Antônio Albuquerque Coelho de Carvalho, who made it his residence, and its founding was ratified on 14 April 1712 (Wikipedia, Mariana, Minas Gerais).

Highlights

• A 1701 Arp Schnitger organ - Hamburg-built, in the cathedral, still played.
• Two churches on one square - Sao Francisco and Carmo facing the pillory.
• The first capital of Minas - founded 1696, ahead of Ouro Preto.
• Mina da Passagem - a gold mine descended by cable car.

When to go

April to September. A day, checking the organ recital times.

Practical notes

Organ recitals run at fixed times on set days and the cathedral is otherwise closed to visitors during services. Cobbles are steep. The town is quieter and less restored than Ouro Preto. The mine visit is cold and wet.

Nearby

Ouro Preto is twelve kilometres west; Caraca is north-east.

Key facts