Historic Centre of the Town of Goiás

The Historic Centre of the Town of Goiás, often called Goiás Velho, is a well-preserved example of a Brazilian colonial settlement with churches, residences and public squares. The centre retains a high concentration of traditional building types and decorative woodwork.

Notable elements include compact residential blocks, masonry churches and civic buildings that reflect Portuguese-colonial urban forms adapted to an inland Brazilian setting. The small museum in the former home of the poet Cora Coralina highlights local cultural history.

The town developed during the 18th century as part of the inland expansion of Portuguese colonial settlement in central Brazil and evolved through the 19th century without large-scale modern redevelopment. It later lost administrative primacy to a planned capital but retained much of its historic fabric.

Goiás sits on the banks of the Rio Vermelho in the central Brazilian highlands in the state of Goiás, removed from major coastal centres and set within a rural landscape of plateaus and river valleys.

• Explore on foot: The town preserves numerous colonial churches and narrow cobbled streets that are best explored on foot to appreciate the spatial structure and timber craftsmanship.

What to See #

• Casa de Cora Coralina: The former home of the poet Cora Coralina, preserved as a small house museum that illustrates domestic life in the town's historic quarter.