Congonhas

Congonhas on the map of Minas Gerais

The small town of Congonhas is a municipality in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais and is located 85 km south of Belo Horizonte in a wide valley. Its foundation owes discovery of gold on the Rio Maranhão. Today she lives mainly of mining and metal processing and tourism. The village is 871 meters above sea level and has 43 071 inhabitants ( 2004). The municipality covers 306.4 km ².

Since 1985, the Sanctuary of Bom Jesus de Matozinhos is with the sculptures of the Stations of the Cross Aleijadinho and part of the UNESCO list of world cultural heritage.

Sanctuary

Santuário do Bom Jesus de Matozinhos was built in 1758 on the Maranhão Hill, above Congonhas. The ensemble includes an open staircase and chapels with works of art by regional artists.

From Aleijadinho were created twelve life-size statues of the prophets made ​​of soapstone. You stand in front of the church on the edge of a terrace from which you can see far into the country. You keep up with dramatic movement scrolls in their hands, who proclaim six good and six bad messages. In addition to sculptures Aleijadinho the interior of the church contains paintings by Manuel da Costa Ataíde, an equally famous Baroque painter.

Below the church are in a landscaped garden six small chapels, carved in cedar scenes from the Passion: "The Last Supper ", " Golgotha ​​", " The incarceration ," " scourging and crowning ," "The Way of the Cross " and " The Crucifixion ". They, too, were created by Aleijadinho and his students. Her expression is caricatured: the torturers and tormentors of Jesus are dwarfed, they have crooked, long noses and silly, silly faces.

Other historic buildings

• The church Igreja do Rosário, built by slaves in the 17th century,
• The church Matriz de Nossa Senhora
• The Igreja de São José.