Coins
From the gold age.
Paulo SP/ Wikimedia — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Luis Rizo — Public domain · upslon from Belo Horizonte, Brasil — CC BY 2.0
Casa dos Contos, the House of Accounts, is the finest colonial house in Ouro Preto, built between 1782 and 1784 for a wealthy Portuguese tax contractor, João Rodrigues de Macedo, and reckoned the most expensive house in the whole captaincy. It stands by a small stone bridge of 1744 over the Ouro Preto stream. Its owner ran up debts to the Portuguese crown and rented parts of the house to the government; during the crackdown on the Inconfidência in 1789 it served as barracks and as a prison for the movement's notables, and the poet Cláudio Manuel da Costa died there as a prisoner. The royal treasury then confiscated it and made it the captaincy's accounting office, hence its name, and between 1820 and 1844 the gold foundry and the mint were added to it. Today it is a museum of money and taxes in the gold age, with coins and the story of gold smelting, and the cell under the staircase where the poet was held. Entry is free, and staff in each room explain the exhibits.
From the gold age.
Under the staircase.
From 1744.
Rua São José 12, central Ouro Preto
Historic Town of Ouro PretoOuro Preto, Black Gold, is a colonial mining town in the mountains of Minas Gera4 minutes walk4.9
Inconfidência MuseumThe Inconfidência Museum is Ouro Preto's leading museum, in the old government b4 minutes walk4.6
Church of São Francisco de AssisThe Church of São Francisco de Assis is one of the best-known buildings of Brazi6 minutes walk4.9Because after it was confiscated it became the captaincy's accounting office and treasury, and later the gold foundry and mint were added to it.