SANT'ANNA FORTRESS PROJECT
Tracing a path to conservation – the Sant’Anna Fortress project was approved by FUNBIO with the scope of developing the preliminary socio-environmental studies for the creation of a Conservation Unit on the lands of the Sant'Anna Fortress farm.
Its history is rich in passages and characters of national magnitude, and due to its position of largest and most productive local farm, directly influenced the emergence of the municipalities of its surroundings. Also part of the history of the Sant'Anna Fortress farm are people who have lived there for more than four generations, contemporary characters who represent the living culture of the place.
The farm Sant'Anna Fortress, located close to Juiz de Fora in Minas Gerais State, was founded at the beginning of the 19th century and preserves, in its more than 4,600 hectares, a representative natural, archaeological, cultural and historical heritage, factors that place this locality on the plateau of territory of public and collective interest.
Its lands shelter one of the most well-known indigenous archaeological sites, documented by scientific expeditions and that today it is part of the collection that was burnt to ashes in the recent shameful fire of the National Museum, in Rio de Janeiro.
The project began in 2010 and was completed in 2012, resulting in a comprehensive report on the socio-environmental potentials and conflicts of the former Sant'Anna Fortress delivered to FUNBIO and the Ministry of the Environment.