in Recife (after 1728). In Rio de Janeiro, the main colonial street, Direita Street (currently Primeiro de Março Street), arose as a connection between the Morro do Castelo, where the city was founded, and the São Bento Monastery, located on the hill of the same name. Another important aspect was the establishment of religious monuments in high places, sometimes preceded by staircases, which created scenographic landscapes with a strong baroque character. In Rio, for example, many monasteries and churches were built on hills, with their facades facing the sea, offering a magnificent setting for travelers entering Guanabara Bay. The privileged relationship between topography and churches is also striking in the cities of Minas Gerais, especially Ouro Preto and the Congonhas Sanctuary. In the latter, the pilgrimage church is located on top of a hill, preceded by a set of chapels with the Via Sacra and a staircase decorated with statues of prophets. In the 18th century, reforms carried out by the government of the Marquis of Pombal, linked in part to the need to occupy the limits with Spanish America, led to a greater presence of military engineers in the colony and to the foundation of several planned vilas, in which the places for administrative buildings, churches, and symbols of public power were planned. Thus, during the 18th century, many villages were created with planned urbanism in the current states of Rio Grande do Sul, Mato Grosso, Goiás, Roraima, Amazonas and others. Moreover, in some places common facade patterns for buildings were adopted with the aim of creating a harmonious urban ensemble, as observed in the lower city of Salvador in the mid-eighteenth century. In Minas Gerais, where the gold rush favored the rapid growth of villages in hilly terrain without any planning, there were also some important urbanistic interventions. The layout of the city of Mariana, located on relatively flat terrain, was regularly remodeled in 1745 by José Fernandes Pinto Alpoim. At the same time, several houses were demolished in downtown Ouro Preto for the creation of a monumental square, today known as Tiradentes Square, where the City Council House and the Governor's Palace were built. Urban improvements were more frequent as colonization advanced. In Salvador, major landfills in the 18th century allowed the development of the lower city, previously restricted to a narrow strip of land. In Rio de Janeiro, lagoons and swamps were filled in to allow