BRAZIL

This cover from Brazil depicts 2 stamps celebrating the Historic Town of Ouro Preto. Ouro Preto, formerly Vila Rica, is a city in and former capital of 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 in 1980 because of its outstanding Baroque Portuguese colonial 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 eighteenth century, not to mention what was circulated in an illegal manner, nor what remained in the colony, such as gold used in the ornamentation of the churches. The municipality became the most populous city of Latin America, counting on about 40 thousand people in 1730 and, decades after, 80 thousand.

BRAZIL

Thanks to my friend Luciano Ferrari I got this amazing UNESCO cover from Brazil, depicting a miniature sheet with 3 different Unesco sites in Brazil: Ouro Preto, Olinda and São Luís:

Historic Town of Ouro Preto (since 1980) - founded at the end of 17th century, Ouro Preto (Black Gold), was the local 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 remains as a testimony to its past prosperty.




Historic Centre of the Town of Olinda (since 1982) - founded in the 16th century by the Portuguese, the town's history is linked in the sugar-cane industry. Rebuilt after being looted by the Dutch, its basis urban fabric dates from the 18th century. The harmonious balance between the buildings, gardens, 20 baroque churches, convents and numerous small passos (chapels) all contribute to Olinda's particular charm.




Historic Centre os São Luís (since 1982) - the late 17th-century core of this historic town, founded by the French and occupied by the Dutch before coming under Portuguese rule, has preserved the original rectangular street plan in its entirety. Thanks to a period of economic stagnation in the early 20th century, an excepcional number of fine historic buildings have survived, making this an outstanding example of an iberian colonial town.