Mariana is the oldest city in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. It is a touristic city, founded in 1696 and keeps its characteristics of a baroque city, with its churches, buildings and museums. Flag of Minas Gerais See other Brazilian States Capital Belo Horizonte Largest City Belo Horizonte Area 586,528. ... The year 1696 had the earliest equinoxes and solstices for 400 years in the Gregorian calendar, because this year is a leap year and the Gregorian calendar would have behaved like the Julian calendar since March 1500 had it have been in use that long. ... Adoration, by Peter Paul Rubens: dynamic figures spiral down around a void: draperies blow: a whirl of movement lit in a shaft of light, rendered in a free bravura handling of paint In the arts, Baroque (or baroque) is both a period and the artistic style that dominated it. ... A church building (or simply church) is a building used in Christian worship. ... Building is either the act of creating an object assembled from more than one element, or the object itself; see also construction. ... A museum is typically a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits, for purposes of study, education enjoyment, the tangible and intangible evidence of people and their environment. ...