Historic Centre of the Town of Goiás
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How it came to be
Goiás, in central Brazil, takes its name from the Goyaz people who lived there before Europeans came. In 1727 the bandeirante Bartolomeu Bueno da Silva, known as the Anhanguera, founded the mining camp of Sant'Anna in search of gold. In 1736 it became the town of Vila Boa de Goyaz.
The captaincy of Goiás was created in 1748, and its first governor, Marcos de Noronha, Count of Arcos, built a foundry house for the gold and, in 1751, the palace that bears his name. The town grew as a mining settlement that followed the lie of the land, and both its public and private buildings use local materials and vernacular techniques. When the gold ran out at the end of the 18th century, the town turned to farming and cattle.
In 1937 the state capital moved to the newly built Goiânia, a move that ended up preserving the colonial town. Goiás was the home of the poet Cora Coralina (1889 to 1985), who published her first book at 75; her house, dating from 1782, is now a museum. The historic centre was inscribed in 2001.
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