Steep streets
Wooden balconies.
Marquesrro — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Ederlucio Melo — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ederlucio Melo — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ederlucio Melo — CC BY-SA 4.0
Diamantina, at about 1,200 metres in the Serra do Espinhaço, grew from the 1720s as the Arraial do Tejuco, a camp along rivers worked for gold and then for diamonds, first found in 1719. Because of the diamonds the Portuguese Crown ran the district under a special administration, and its relative isolation preserved its 18th-century look. Its centre was listed as national heritage in 1938 and as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. Its streets are steep, winding and stone-paved, lined with colonial houses with wooden balconies, churches woven into the town and historic fountains; the old municipal market is one of its landmarks. Chica da Silva lived here, and President Juscelino Kubitschek was born here: his childhood home on Rua São Francisco is now a museum. On some evenings the town holds the Vesperata, when musicians play from the balconies of the old mansions to the crowd in the street.
Wooden balconies.
Music from balconies.
The president's childhood home.
Historic centre, Diamantina, Minas Gerais
An evening concert in which musicians play from the balconies of old mansions to the audience in the street.
