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Despite the comparative ugliness of the Catedral Metropolitana de Santo Antonio , built in 1940 on the site of an old colonial church, the cathedral square is worth savouring. It's lined with sobrados, many of them with exquisite ornamental bronze- and ironwork, often imported from Portugal - look closely and you'll see iron pineapples on the balconies. Most impressive of all are the serried windows of the massive Prefeitura, and the ornate Banco do Brasil building next to it - possibly unique in Brazil in that it spells the country name the old way, with a "z". For the other churches , you're faced with two problems. Some are closed for restoration, which is taking years, and though the workmen are usually happy to let you in you're not seeing them at their best. Also, in recent years, a rash of thefts of artworks from churches in and around Diamantina has made people very reluctant to open them up for visitors. Some of the thieves were foreigners, and this has made people even more suspicious, so unless you can wheedle in Portuguese you stand little chance of getting in: ask at the nearest house for the zelador (guardian), and try your luck. Fortunately, with one exception, the exteriors are actually more interesting than the interiors. Diamantina churches are very distinctive, simple but very striking, with stubby towers and Chinese eaves: street names, like Rua Macau de Meio and Rua Macau de Cima, recall where the Chinese craftsmen imported by the Portuguese lived during the eighteenth century. The one church worth trying to see the inside of, if at all possible, is the Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Carmo (Tues-Sat 1-5pm, Sun 9am-noon) on Rua Bonfim. Built between 1760 and 1765, legend has it that the heir of Diamantina's richest miner made sure the tower was built at the back of the church rather than the front, as was usual, so the bells didn't disturb his wife's beauty sleep. Inside is an atypically florid interior, whose two main features are a rich, intricately carved altar screen and a gold-sheathed organ, which was actually built in Diamantina. On the cobbled street leading down the hill from here is a local curiosity. The church at the bottom, Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Rosario (Tues-Sat 1-5pm, Sun 9am-noon), has a tree growing in front of it: look closely and you can see a large distorted wooden cross embedded in the trunk and lower branches. The story behind this reads like something from Gabriel Garcia Marquez, but did really happen. The year the old Se church was knocked down, in 1932, the padre of Rosario planted a wooden cross outside his church to commemorate the chapel that old Diamantina had originally been built around. A fig tree sprouted up around it so that at first the cross seemed to flower - there's a photo of it at this stage in the Museu do Diamante - and eventually, rather than knocking it down, the tree grew up around the cross and ended up absorbing it. Inside the church itself is a marvellous Baroque altar and a simple, yet stunning, painted ceiling.
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