Paróquia Nossa Senhora da Conceição - MG

Wonderful church.

One of the most beautiful and peaceful squares

Inland city, simple, airy, good-hearted people and a spectacular view of the mountains right in front of the steps of the parish church of Nossa Senhor da Conceição. The name 'comes from the deep excavations that were carried out on top of the hill in search of gold. In 1702, the Portuguese pioneer Domingos Borges discovered rich gold mines in the eastern slope of the Serra do Caraça. He was also responsible for the foundation of the camp in 1703. The exploration of gold in Serra da Caraça began in 1708. In the year 1716, the Portuguese miner and farmer Captain Thomé Fernandes do Valle who mined in the Serra was already in the parish of Nossa Senhora da Conceição das Catas Altas, and had his farm where he built a chapel dedicated to Senhora Sant'Ana, and lavras de gold in the region of Valeria. Place that received the name "Valéria" because of its surname Valle. In 1718, the village was elevated to the parish, through measures taken by the colonial administration, and the parish was declared to have a collective nature. Six years later, he was named the first vicar of Catas Altas, then called Catas Altas do Mato Dentro to differentiate it from Catas Altas in Norway and because it was a term the bandeirantes used when entering the forest (as they entered the forest). inside, they baptized some localities with the name followed by Mato Dentro). The construction of the current Igreja da Matriz began in 1729 and lasted until around 1780, and remains unfinished on the inside to the present day, with works attributed to Aleijandinho, Mestre Ataíde, Francisco Vieira Servas and others. We have in the history of Catas Altas the important figure of the Portuguese priest Monsignor Manoel Mendes Pereira de Vasconcelos, who, concerned with the situation of poverty of the majority of the Catas-Altensian population, taught a culture with better technique and also, the cultivation of vines until production of the wine. This wine was awarded in several exhibitions at the beginning of the 20th century and helped the population a lot. Already in 1949, the production of jabuticaba wine by the farmer Mr. Anastácio Antônio de Souza appears for the first time, and today it has more than 30 producers registered with APROVART - Association of Wine Producers, Family Farmers and Other Handcrafted Products of Catas Altas, who use the fruit to make excellent wine, which is very tasty and responsible for the "Festa do Vinho" that has been taking place since 2001, attracting many tourists and generating income for producers and foreign exchange for the municipality.