PEREIRA, FABRICIO LUIZ1; NOGUEIRA, FRANCIELLE CÂMARA2; PEREIRA, LETICIA MENDES3; MACHADO, BIANCA ALMEIDA4; PEREIRA, CARLOS ALBERTO5

1Masters student of History at Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto. – fabricioluizp@yahoo.com.br

2Masters student of Mineral Engineering at Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto. – franciellenoguera@yahoo.com.br

3Undergraduate student of Farmacy at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. – leticiamepe@gmail.com

4Undergraduate student of Mining Engineering at Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto. – machado.bainca@yahoo.com.br

5Professor of Department of Mining Engineering at Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto. – pereira@demin.ufop.br

In the early morning of January 2nd, 2005, the cross of the District of Lavras Novas located in the city of Ouro Preto – Brazil, was damaged by some vandals. It is estimated that the work of art was built between 1730 and 1750, and had an inestimable value for the history of that place. In the same year, with the initiative of the program called extension and stonemasonry, the stonemason José Raimundo Pereira (Mr. Juca) began process of the cross restoration. This paper will show this process of restoration of such work of art and how the university extension enabled the rising of funds to restore the cross. In addition, we will discuss about the importance of restoration for the affirmation and consolidation of local history and how an extension project may and must intervene for the preservation and conservation of the heritage of the place. Thus, our communication will be divided into two parts. The first will reflect on the importance of preserving local heritage. The second one will show the importance of the initiative of preserving such heritage by the Extension Program of Stonework.

Keywords: stonemasonry, cross restoration, extension university program, heritage conservation, Ouro Preto