Inaugurated on October 12, 1876 by decree No. 6,026, the Escola de Minas emerged with the objective of teaching Mineralogy and Geology in Brazil. Dom Pedro II knew of the importance of mining for the development of the country, creating in 1874 an initiative of the Escola de Minas. With that, a term was signed, in which its first director was defined: Claude Henri Gorceix.

Gorceix had the key role to start the School, it was his responsibility to set up a study in Brazil to check the most suitable place for its implementation. When he arrived in Rio de Janeiro, he organized a trip to Rio Grande do Sul to start a mineralogical collection and define the place where the Escola de Minas facilities would take place. Several cities were visited, such as Juiz de Fora, Barbacena, Diamantina, but Ouro Preto was decided to serve as an allocation for the first mineralogy teaching space in the province of Minas Gerais.

Ouro Preto, at the time, the former capital of Minas Gerais, was defined as the ideal city because, according to Gorceix, it was a large population center with numerous libraries and the mining industry already existed, so it was important for theory to be close to practice.

The first space used for the implementation of the school was four houses behind the Church of Nossa Senhora da Mercês, later with the move of the capital to Belo Horizonte, on December 12, 1879, a new space was established for the Escola de Minas: O Governors Palace.

In 1969, Federal Government Decree-Law No. 778 incorporated the Escola de Minas into the School of Pharmacy, which together established the Federal University of Ouro Preto. In 1995, the Escola de Minas was transferred to the Morro do Cruzeiro campus, where it currently works with the Federal University of Ouro Preto, comprising nine courses in the area of ​​engineering and architecture. UFOP's Technical Science Museum was established at the Governors' Palace.