Historic Town of Ouro Preto is a unique representation of baroque architecture in a homogenous cityscape.The city´s wealth has its origins in the late 17th century. At this period expeditions to the interior of Brazil started, in search of minerals. This became succesfull in what now is the state of Minais Gerais: in 1693 gold was discovered here.The exploration for gold was a monopoly of the Portuguese crown. They taxed 20% on the findings. A heavy system for collecting the tributes and taxes