Ouro Preto
| Ouro Preto | |||
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| Municipality | |||
| Praça Tiradentes, Ouro Preto | |||
Museum of Betraval and Tiradentes Square
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 Ouro Preto
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| Coordinates: 20°23′07″S 43°30′13″W / 20.38528°S 43.50361°WCoordinates: 20°23′07″S 43°30′13″W / 20.38528°S 43.50361°W | |||
| Country |
 Brazil
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| Region | Southeast | ||
| State |
 Minas Gerais
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| Official name | Historic Town of Ouro Preto | ||
| Type | Cultural | ||
| Criteria | i, III | ||
| Designated | 1980 (4th session) | ||
| Reference no. | 124 | ||
| State Party | Brazil | ||
| Region | Latin America and the Caribbean | ||
Ouro Preto (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈoɾu ˈpɾetu], Black Gold) is a city in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, a former colonial mining town located in the Serra do Espinhaço mountains and designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO because of its outstanding Baroque architecture.
Ouro Preto is located in one of the main areas of the Brazilian Gold Rush. Officially, 800 tons of gold were sent to Portugal in the XVIII century. Other gold circulated illegally, and still other gold remained in the colony to adorn churches and for other uses.
In the 18th century, Ouro Preto became for a time the most populous city in the New World, with an estimated population of 80,000 in 1750. At that time, the population of New York was half that number, and the population of São Paulo did not reach 8,000.
Population: Data from the 2010 Census (IBGE)
The city is linked by good roads to:
Bordering municipalities are:
Ouro Preto has a humid subtropical climate (Cwa, according to the Köppen climate classification), with warm and humid summers and mild, dry winters.
Founded at the end of the 17th century, Ouro Preto (meaning Black Gold) was originally called Vila Rica, or "rich village", the focal point of the gold rush and Brazil's golden age in the 18th century under Portuguese rule.
The city centre contains well-preserved Portuguese colonial architecture, with few signs of modern urban development. New construction must keep with the city's historical aesthetic. 18th- and 19th-century churches decorated with gold and the sculptured works of Aleijadinho make Ouro Preto a tourist destination.
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Wikipedia