Fodor's Expert Review Casa dos Contos
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Government Building
This colonial site dating from the 1780s has had many uses: a prison, a tax collection center, and a coinage house, among others. It contains the foundry that minted coins of the gold-rush period and has exhibits of coins and period furniture. The building is considered one of the best examples of Brazilian colonial architecture. The beautiful park at the back of the building snakes past a waterfall and alongside a river to the other side of town.