A Gateway to the Depths of Minas, Brazil
Updated on Sep.30, 2014
One of Brazil's newest museums is also the new gateway to a popular ecotourism attraction in Minas Gerais State. Opened on Aug.7, 2013, the Maquiné Cave Museum in Cordisburgo is part of a broader cultural initiative comprising the opening and the renovation of several venues in and near Belo Horizonte.
Discovered in 1825 by farmer Joaquim Maria Maquiné, the cave with seven rooms measures 650 linear meters and contains one of Brazil's most complex collections of speleothems, or cavestone formations, resulting from calcite deposits.
It was extensively explored and studied by Danish scientist Peter Wilhelm Lund (1801-1880), for a few years with the assistance of his fellow countryman, botanist Eugen Warming (1841-1924). Lund's work was illustrated by Norwegian painter Peter Andreas Brandt (1792-1862), who, like Lund himself, lived in the town of Lagoa Santa till the end of his life.
Digital specimens of Minas Gerais flora, with a focus on the cerrado biome, and animals, including replicas of fossils found by Lund in the cave, are among the highlights on display in the 400-square-meter museum with updated video walls, which has replaced the former visitors center as the gateway to the Maquiné Cave.
Lund, who first visited Brazil in 1825, started exploring Maquiné and other caves in the Lagoa Santa region upon his return to the country in the early 1830s. Besides discovering human fossils that would become known as the Santa Lagoa Man, he found many fossils of animals. Smilodon populator, a type of saber-toothed cat, was found at Maquiné.
The new museum is Marker 5 on the Peter Lund Cave Route, proposed by paleontologist Cástor Cartelle and located about 63 miles from Belo Horizonte. The route encompasses Markers 0 to 4 - the Museum of Natural Sciences at the Pontifical Catholic University (PUC-MG) in Belo Horizonte; the Peter Lund Gravesite, in Lagoa Santa; the Peter Lund Museum at the Sumidouro Park in Lagoa Santa; and Gruta Rei do Mato, a cave in Sete Lagoas - as well as Marker 6, the Guimarães Rosa House Museum in Cordisburgo. The latter commemorates Cordisburgo native Rosa (1908-1967), one of the greatest Brazilian writers of all time.
Daily 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
R$ 16 (half-price available; free admission for children 5 and younger).
Via Alberto Ramos, MG 231 - Km 7
Cordisburgo - MG
Phone: 55-31-3715-1078
The Maquiné Cave, located in the town of Cordisburgo, is part of the Lagoa Santa karst system, which contains several caves, including Lapa Vermelha, where archaeologist Annette Laming-Emperaire found the 11,500-year-old skeleton of Luzia Woman in 1975.
Maquiné is lit with LED lamps and guides take up to 40 visitors at a time on daily tours. Seven rooms or chambers are open to visitation.
The first chamber, also known as the Vestibule, is lit by daylight.
Like the second chamber, known as the Column Room, it has masses of stalagmites. In the third chamber, larger than the two first with an area of 220 by 116 ft, and a height of 50 ft, a formation resembling a bear on a pedestal and a curtain of stalactites stand out.
Formations resembling a ram and a nuclear mushroom cloud draw the visitors' attention in the fourth room; the fifth room has a basin surrounded by crystal rosettes. The sixth room, which inspired great awe in Peter Lund, has been compared to a fairies' palace due to the beauty and variety of its sparkly formations. The seventh chamber has two parts, the larger of which is also the largest explored room at Maquiné with and area of 534 by 184 feet.
Cordisburgo has several other caves - Morena, Salitre, Tobogã, Valentim Caiano, Santo Amaro, Gruta dos Porquinhos, Vaca Preta and Tão Lucas - but they're not open to tourists.
With thanks to the Maquinetur Foundation and the City of Cordisburgo for information on the area's caves.
One of Brazil's newest museums is also the new gateway to a popular ecotourism attraction in Minas Gerais State. Opened on Aug.7, 2013, the Maquiné Cave Museum in Cordisburgo is part of a broader cultural initiative comprising the opening and the renovation of several venues in and near Belo Horizonte.
Discovered in 1825 by farmer Joaquim Maria Maquiné, the cave with seven rooms measures 650 linear meters and contains one of Brazil's most complex collections of speleothems, or cavestone formations, resulting from calcite deposits.
It was extensively explored and studied by Danish scientist Peter Wilhelm Lund (1801-1880), for a few years with the assistance of his fellow countryman, botanist Eugen Warming (1841-1924). Lund's work was illustrated by Norwegian painter Peter Andreas Brandt (1792-1862), who, like Lund himself, lived in the town of Lagoa Santa till the end of his life.
Digital specimens of Minas Gerais flora, with a focus on the cerrado biome, and animals, including replicas of fossils found by Lund in the cave, are among the highlights on display in the 400-square-meter museum with updated video walls, which has replaced the former visitors center as the gateway to the Maquiné Cave.
Lund, who first visited Brazil in 1825, started exploring Maquiné and other caves in the Lagoa Santa region upon his return to the country in the early 1830s. Besides discovering human fossils that would become known as the Santa Lagoa Man, he found many fossils of animals. Smilodon populator, a type of saber-toothed cat, was found at Maquiné.
The new museum is Marker 5 on the Peter Lund Cave Route, proposed by paleontologist Cástor Cartelle and located about 63 miles from Belo Horizonte. The route encompasses Markers 0 to 4 - the Museum of Natural Sciences at the Pontifical Catholic University (PUC-MG) in Belo Horizonte; the Peter Lund Gravesite, in Lagoa Santa; the Peter Lund Museum at the Sumidouro Park in Lagoa Santa; and Gruta Rei do Mato, a cave in Sete Lagoas - as well as Marker 6, the Guimarães Rosa House Museum in Cordisburgo. The latter commemorates Cordisburgo native Rosa (1908-1967), one of the greatest Brazilian writers of all time.
Museum Hours:
Daily 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Admission:
R$ 16 (half-price available; free admission for children 5 and younger).
Address & Contact Information:
Via Alberto Ramos, MG 231 - Km 7
Cordisburgo - MG
Phone: 55-31-3715-1078
The Maquiné Cave, located in the town of Cordisburgo, is part of the Lagoa Santa karst system, which contains several caves, including Lapa Vermelha, where archaeologist Annette Laming-Emperaire found the 11,500-year-old skeleton of Luzia Woman in 1975.
Maquiné is lit with LED lamps and guides take up to 40 visitors at a time on daily tours. Seven rooms or chambers are open to visitation.
The first chamber, also known as the Vestibule, is lit by daylight.
Like the second chamber, known as the Column Room, it has masses of stalagmites. In the third chamber, larger than the two first with an area of 220 by 116 ft, and a height of 50 ft, a formation resembling a bear on a pedestal and a curtain of stalactites stand out.
Formations resembling a ram and a nuclear mushroom cloud draw the visitors' attention in the fourth room; the fifth room has a basin surrounded by crystal rosettes. The sixth room, which inspired great awe in Peter Lund, has been compared to a fairies' palace due to the beauty and variety of its sparkly formations. The seventh chamber has two parts, the larger of which is also the largest explored room at Maquiné with and area of 534 by 184 feet.
Cordisburgo has several other caves - Morena, Salitre, Tobogã, Valentim Caiano, Santo Amaro, Gruta dos Porquinhos, Vaca Preta and Tão Lucas - but they're not open to tourists.
With thanks to the Maquinetur Foundation and the City of Cordisburgo for information on the area's caves.
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