SAO JOAO DEL REI is the
only one of the historic cities to
have adjusted successfully to life
after the gold rush. It has all the
usual trappings of the
cidades
históricas - gilded churches,
well-stocked museums, colonial
mansions - but it's also a thriving
market town, easily the largest of
the historic cities, with a
population of around 80,000. This
modern prosperity complements the
colonial atmosphere rather than
compromising it, and, with its wide
central thoroughfare enclosing a
small stream, its stone bridges,
squares and trees, Sao Joao is a
very attractive place, well worth
lingering in. If possible, stay over
on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday when
you can take a ride on the
"Smoking Mary", a lovingly
restored nineteenth-century steam
train, to the nearby village of
Tiradentes
- a great day out.
Founded in 1699 on the Sao Joao
River, the town had the usual
turbulent early years, but
distinguished itself by successfully
turning to ranching and trade when
the gold ran out early in the
nineteenth century. Sao Joao's
carpets were once famous, and there
is still a textile factory today.
Tiradentes was born here,
Aleijadinho worked here, and in more
recent times the great mineiro
politician, Tancredo Neves ,
shepherded Brazil out of military
rule when he was elected president
in 1985. Tragically, he died before
he took office and is buried in the
nearest place the town has to a
shrine in the cemetery of Sao
Francisco.
The Town
Sao Joao's colonial sections are
complemented by some fine buildings
of more recent eras, notably the end
of the nineteenth century, when the
town's prosperity and
self-confidence were high. The 1920s
and 1930s were also good times -
some of the vaguely...
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