Museu do Oratório
A collection of hundreds of household oratories from the 18th to 20th centuries, ranging from small traveling shrines to 'bread-loaf' oratories used by enslaved people to hide saint images.
The museum is housed in an 18th-century building beside the Carmelite church. It displays about 160 oratórios from Minas Gerais and across Brazil. They include portable shrines carried by mule traders, oratories by enslaved people disguised as stones or loaves of bread, and finely crafted Baroque shrines from noble households, showing folk beliefs and craftsmanship. Admission is about 10 reais, and a visit takes about 40 minutes.
Opening hours
Approx. 09:30–17:30
Nearby sights
- Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
- Museu da Inconfidência
- Teatro Municipal de Ouro Preto (Casa da Ópera)
- Praça Tiradentes
- Church of Saint Francis of Assisi
- Soapstone Craft Fair (Largo de Coimbra)
- Museum of Science and Technology of the School of Mines
- Casa dos Contos