The "Casa dos Contos" is one of the widest and most
beautiful baroque monuments of the State of Minas Gerais. It was built in Ouro
Preto, Minas Gerais, between 1782 and 1784, to house the "Casa dos
Contratos", and served as a residence for the contract bidder of tithes
and inflows, João Rodrigues de Macedo, one of the richest men of the
colony in the 18th century.
In 1789, part of the building was leased to quarter the Squadron
Company of the Viceroy, present at the then Vila Rica to repress the Rebellion
of Minas Gerais. Some of its rooms lodged the distinguished defendants from the
Rebellion, among them: Álvares Maciel, Father Rolin, Luiz Vieira da
Silva and Cláudio Manuel da Costa, who died in that house.
João Rodrigues de Macedo, getting into a big debt with the
Royal Treasury in 1793, had to rent the ground floor of his residence to the
government. Thus began the transfer of the Council of the Royal Treasury and the
Gold Intendancy to the site, which began to be called "Casa dos Contos".
1803 witnessed the definite distress of the real estate by the Royal
Treasury due to a serious default by the contractor. In 1820, the "Casa dos
Contos" undergoes alterations to house the "Casa de Fundição
do Ouro" (Gold Foundry) and, in 1844,the Secretariat of Provincial Finance
is settled along with the Office of the Empire's Treasury.
After the capital of Minas Gerais was transferred to Belo Horizonte in
1897, the building was occupied by the Post Office, the Federal Savings Bank
and later by the Ouro Preto City Hall.
The Ministry of Finance resumed the building in 1973, when the museum
and the Gold Cycle Research Center were opened, and the office of Ouro Preto's
Federal Revenue was set up.
The tradition of having the "Casa dos Contos" always linked
to tax activities has remained, and the Ministry of Finance, through the
School of Financial Administration , restated its
endeavor toward the preservation of the Brazilian artistic and cultural
inheritance.
Casa dos Contos
Rua São José, 12 - Cep 35400
Ouro Preto - Minas Gerais
Telefone: (031) 551 1444
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