São João del-Rei is a Brazilian municipality in the state of

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

. Founded in 1713 in homage to king

John V of Portugal ''Dom (title), Dom'' John V (; 22 October 1689 – 31 July 1750), known as the Magnanimous (''o Magnânimo'') and the Portuguese Sun King (''o Rei-Sol Português''), was King of Portugal from 9 December 1706 until his death in 1750. His reig ...

, the city is famed for its historic

Portuguese colonial architecture Portuguese colonial architecture refers to the various styles of Portuguese architecture built across the Portuguese Empire (including Portugal). Many former colonies, especially Brazil, Macau, and India, promote their Portuguese architecture as ...

. The current population is estimated at 90,225 inhabitants.

Geography

It is located in the drainage basin of the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...

and its terrain is located in the

Mantiqueira mountains The Mantiqueira Mountains (Portuguese: ''Serra da Mantiqueira iterally: Mantiqueira Mountains Chain') are a mountain range in Southeastern Brazil, with parts in the states of São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro (st ...

. It is a centre for the cities in the south and southeast of

. The municipality contains part of the

Ritápolis National Forest Ritápolis National Forest () is a national forest in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Location The Ritápolis National Forest covers of Atlantic Forest. It covers parts of the municipalities of São João del Rei, Ritápolis and Coronel ...

. According to the modern (2017) geographic classification by Brazil's National Institute of Geography and Statistics (

IBGE The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (; IBGE) is the agency responsible for official collection of statistical, geographic, cartographic, geodetic and environmental information in Brazil. IBGE performs a decennial national cen ...

), the municipality belongs to the Immediate Geographic Region of São João del-Rei, in the Intermediate Geographic Region of Barbacena.

Districts

The municipality has five rural districts. * Rio das Mortes * São Gonçalo do Amarante * São Miguel do Cajuru * Emboabas * São Sebastião da Vitória

History

The city was founded by the

bandeirantes ''Bandeirantes'' (; ; singular: ''bandeirante'') were settlers in colonial Brazil who participated in expeditions to expand the colony's borders and subjugate Indigenous peoples in Brazil, indigenous peoples during the early modern period. T ...

; Tomé Portes del-Rei is considered the city's founder. The original small village situated in southern

was created as a staging post on the

Estrada Real Estrada Real (, ''Royal Road'') was an epithet applied to the roads built and maintained by the Portuguese Crown both in Portugal itself and in the Portuguese Empire, Portuguese overseas territories. Presently it is used to designate a set of ...

, a trade route from the coast at

Paraty Paraty (or Parati, ) is a preserved Portuguese colonial (1500–1822) and Brazilian Imperial (1822–1889) municipality with a population of about 43,000. The name "Paraty" originates from the local Guaianá Indians' indigenous Tupi language, ...

to cities in the central region of Minas Gerais such as

Ouro Preto Ouro Preto (, ), formerly Vila Rica (, ), is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The city, a former Brazilian Gold Rush, colonial mining town located in the Serra do Espinhaço mountains, was designated a ...

, Mariana and

Conselheiro Lafaiete Conselheiro Lafaiete is a city of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. It was known as Queluz until 1934, when it was renamed by decree, as a tribute to Counselor Lafayette Rodrigues Pereira. It is situated 96 km south from Belo Horizonte, c ...

. Later huge amounts of gold were found near the city itself.

Culture

Today, São João del-Rei is a university town. The campus of the

Federal University of São João del-Rei The Federal University of São João del-Rei (, UFSJ) is a Brazilian university in the city of São João del-Rei in the state of Minas Gerais. It has other campuses in the cities of Ouro Branco, Divinópolis and Sete Lagoas, all of them in the s ...

(UFSJ) and a number of other educational institutions are present in the city. A second medical school is to be established at the University. The city has many famous religious festivals through the year, most of them preserving the way it was celebrated by the time of the foundation, with baroque music and special celebrations that attracts tourists from all over the world, particularly during Holy Week, when the town receives the greatest influx of visitors.

Tourism

The city is 12 km from

Tiradentes Joaquim José da Silva Xavier (; 12 November 1746 – 21 April 1792), known as Tiradentes (), was a leading member of the Colonial Brazil, colonial Brazilian revolutionary movement known as the Inconfidência Mineira, whose aim was full i ...

. Other historical cities in Minas Gerais are

, Diamantina, Mariana,

Congonhas Congonhas (Congonhas do Campo until 1948) is a historical Brazilian city located in the state of Minas Gerais. It is situated south from Belo Horizonte, the capital of state of Minas Gerais, by the highway BR-040. As of 2020, the city had a popu ...

and

Sabará Sabará is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Minas Gerais. The city belongs to the Belo Horizonte metropolitan region and to the associated microregion. It is a well preserved historic city and retains the characteristics of a ...

Cathedrals and churches

* Catedral Basílica Nossa Senhora do Pilar (1721), a

Minor Basilica Basilicas are Catholic church buildings that have a designation, conferring special privileges, given by the Pope. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectura ...

, dedicated to

Our Lady of the Pillar Our Lady of the Pillar () is the name given to the Blessed Virgin Mary in the context of the traditional belief that Mary, while living in Jerusalem, supernaturally appeared to the Apostle James the Greater in AD 40, AD 40 while he was pre ...

, the episcopal seat of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of São João del Rei The Diocese of São João del-Rei, São João del Rei () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church in Brazil. It is a suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolis (religious jurisdiction), metro ...

. * Our Lady of Rosário (1720) * Our Lady of Carmo (1733) * Our Lady of Mercês e Bonfim (1769) *

São Francisco de Assis SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Serb Autonomous Regions (''Srpska autonomna oblast'', SAO), during the breakup of ...

(1774) * Santo Antônio (Senhor dos Montes neighborhood) * Nossa Senhora da Piedade do Bom Despacho

Sports

The city is home to Athletic Club (1909), an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

team that plays in the First Division of

Campeonato Mineiro The Campeonato Mineiro is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. It is run by the Minas Gerais Football Federation (FMF). The history of Campeonato Mineiro can be divided into two parts: bef ...

, along with Cruzeiro, Atlético and América.

Notable people

Folk

, national hero

Sports

* Thiago Galhardo,

professional player

Entrepreneur

* Nadir Dias de Figueiredo,

glass Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline solid, non-crystalline) solid. Because it is often transparency and translucency, transparent and chemically inert, glass has found widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in window pane ...

industrialist

Writers

Otto Lara Resende Otto Lara Resende (1 May 1922 – 28 December 1992) was a Brazilian journalist and writer. Biography Resende began teaching French at age fourteen and at eighteen years old began working as a journalist in the Belo Horizonte newspaper ''O Diári ...

, writer (

chronicler A chronicle (, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events, ...

) * Bárbara Heliodora, writer and thinker from

Inconfidência Mineira The (; "Minas Gerais Conspiracy") was an unsuccessful separatist movement in Colonial Brazil in 1789. It was the result of a confluence of external and internal causes. The external inspiration was the History of the United States (1776–1789 ...

Music

* Chico Lobo,

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

viola caipira The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

Politicians

Tancredo Neves Tancredo de Almeida Neves () (4 March 1910 – 21 April 1985) was a Brazilian politician, lawyer, and entrepreneur. He served as Ministry of Justice and Public Security (Brazil), Minister of Justice and Internal Affairs from 1953 to 1954, Pri ...

, former

president of Brazil The president of Brazil (), officially the president of the Federative Republic of Brazil () or simply the ''President of the Republic'', is the head of state and head of government of Brazil. The president leads the executive branch of the ...

* Manuel Jacinto Nogueira da Gama, Imperial

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

Catholic Church

*Blessed Francisca de Paula de Jesus, Afro-Brazilian Catholic laywoman * Antônio de Almeida Lustosa, Archbishop of Fortaleza,

Servant of God Servant of God () is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint. Terminology The expression ''Servant of God'' appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in ...

* Lucas Moreira Neves, Catholic

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

* Miguel Afonso de Andrade Leite, Catholic priest,

* José Maria Xavier,

sacred music Religious music (also sacred music) is a type of music that is performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence. It may overlap with ritual music, which is music, sacred or not, performed or composed for or as a ritual. Reli ...

and Catholic priest

Estrada de Ferro Oeste de Minas

São João del-Rei was an important station on the Estrada de Ferro Oeste de Minas, a

narrow gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

characterised by woodburning steam locomotives, and the location of a major roundhouse. The station and surrounding facilities have been turned into Brazil's largest railway museum, and a tourist railway operates from the station to the well preserved colonial town of

Climate

Notes

References

External links

*
Guia Turistico e Histórico de São João Del Rei
*
Municipal website

Guia del Rei
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sao Joao Del Rei Municipalities in Minas Gerais

Geography

Districts

History

Culture

Tourism

Cathedrals and churches

Sports

Notable people

Folk

Sports

Entrepreneur

Writers

Music

Politicians

Catholic Church

Estrada de Ferro Oeste de Minas

Climate

See also

Notes

References

External links