Found­ed at the end of the 17th cen­tu­ry, Ouro Pre­to (Black Gold) was the focal point of the gold rush and Brazil‘s gold­en age in the 18th cen­tu­ry. With the exhaus­tion of the gold mines in the 19th cen­tu­ry, the city‘s influ­ence declined but many church­es, bridges and foun­tains remain as a tes­ti­mo­ny to its past pros­per­i­ty and the excep­tion­al tal­ent of the Baroque sculp­tor Alei­jad­in­ho.