Sete Salões State Park, state park in Minas Gerais, Brazil
Sete Salões State Park covers 12,520.9 hectares across Conselheiro Pena, Itueta, Resplendor and Santa Rita do Itueto, in the Vale do Rio Doce. It protects one of the largest remaining Atlantic Forest areas in eastern Minas Gerais, together with campos rupestres and candeia forests. Its complex includes mountains, woods, waterfalls and the Gruta dos Sete Salões, which holds rock paintings; trails link many of the attractions open to visitors.
Created by state decree 39.908 on 22 September 1998, the park covers 12,520.9 hectares across Conselheiro Pena, Itueta, Resplendor and Santa Rita do Itueto. Its creation was presented as compensation for the environmental impact of the Aimorés hydroelectric plant, run by a Vale and CEMIG consortium. A management plan, required since 2000, was only approved in 2021 after legal action by the Minas Gerais public prosecutor's office.
The park lies in the Vale do Rio Doce, spanning Conselheiro Pena, Itueta, Resplendor and Santa Rita do Itueto. Many attractions are open to the public and linked by trails. The management plan was only approved in 2021, so check access conditions with the Instituto Estadual de Florestas before visiting.
The Gruta dos Sete Salões and the Serra da Onça, which the Krenak call Takrukkrak ("High Rock"), hold mystical value for the Krenak people. They believe the cave paintings appeared spontaneously and cannot be destroyed by non-Indigenous people. After the 2015 Mariana dam disaster polluted the Rio Doce, Krenak spirituality turned to these surviving sites.
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