Congonhas

Congonhas is a municipality in central Minas Gerais, Brazil. Its municipal seat grew during the gold rush of the early eighteenth century and became a regional pilgrimage center after construction of the Sanctuary of Bom Jesus de Matosinhos began in 1757. The municipality covers 304.067 km2 (117.401 sq mi) and had 52,890 residents in the 2022 census. Above the older part of the town, the Sanctuary of Bom Jesus de Matosinhos brings together an eighteenth-century church, a terraced forecourt lined with twelve soapstone prophets, and chapels containing polychrome sculptural groups from the Passion of Christ. Much of the sculpture was made by Antônio Francisco Lisboa, known as Aleijadinho, with members of his workshop. UNESCO inscribed the sanctuary on the World Heritage List in 1985, recognizing the architectural and sculptural complex as an exceptional achievement of Baroque art in Latin America. Pilgrimage remains part of the town's character. The annual Jubilee of Bom Jesus de Matosinhos, held each September, brings worshippers from Minas Gerais and other states to the sanctuary. Congonhas later became one of the iron-mining centers of the Iron Quadrangle. Large-scale extraction expanded after the Casa de Pedra mine was incorporated into Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional in the 1940s and grew sharply again in the early twenty-first century. CSN Mineração and Vale operate mines in the municipality, and extractive industries accounted for about 40 percent of formal employment in 2021. Mining has brought high levels of industrial output and employment, while open pits, waste piles and mining structures occupy extensive areas around the town and its waterways.