The ruins
A sixteenth-century town.
Trilhas e Lugares — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Sergio Fajardo — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Sergio Fajardo — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Trilhas e Lugares — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Trilhas e Lugares — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Trilhas e Lugares — CC BY-SA 2.0
Vila Rica do Espírito Santo State Park is a reserve in the municipality of Fênix, Paraná, best known for the ruins of «Villa Rica del Espíritu Santo», a Spanish town founded by a Spanish captain in the 1570s, when this land lay within Spain's colonies. It prospered and had a fortress. In 1632 the «bandeirantes», the Portuguese expeditionaries from São Paulo, besieged the town for three months and then destroyed it. Its ruins lay abandoned until they were mapped around 1865; they were protected as state heritage in 1948, became a forest reserve in 1965 and a state park in 1983. The park also protects a rare remnant of Atlantic Forest in a region largely cleared for farming. The Paraná Museum has carried out archaeological research here since 1954 and displays Guarani pottery and artefacts in the park. The forest trails take about an hour; check opening times before going.
A sixteenth-century town.
Archaeological finds.
An Atlantic Forest remnant.
Fênix municipality, north-western Paraná
About fifty kilometres by car.