Cultural center · Paracatu

Casa Kinross

AT A GLANCE

Why go?

Casa Kinross is an interactive cultural center in Paracatu, Minas Gerais, that tells the story of this historic gold-rush town through permanent exhibitions, video testimonials from residents, and a dynamic programme of workshops and literary events. Opened in 2017 by mining company Kinross Gold, it occupies a building near Paracatu's IPHAN-protected colonial center and has welcomed around 6,000 visitors in a single year.↗↗↗

The exhibition follows Paracatu from the 18th-century bandeirantes who stumbled upon the last great gold deposits of Minas Gerais, through centuries of economic transformation — the collapse of alluvial mining, the long stagnation, the boom that building Brasília brought, and the arrival of modern industrial-scale extraction — right up to the present. The material was gathered and organised by São Paulo's renowned Museu da Pessoa, whose team conducted dozens of interviews with farmers, longtime workers, historians, and local cultural figures.↗↗

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Cultural center · Paracatu

Casa Kinross

Paracatu, BR 4.8 (40 Google reviews)

Photo: Google Maps

AT A GLANCE

Why go?

Casa Kinross is an interactive cultural center in Paracatu, Minas Gerais, that tells the story of this historic gold-rush town through permanent exhibitions, video testimonials from residents, and a dynamic programme of workshops and literary events. Opened in 2017 by mining company Kinross Gold, it occupies a building near Paracatu's IPHAN-protected colonial center and has welcomed around 6,000 visitors in a single year.↗↗↗

The exhibition follows Paracatu from the 18th-century bandeirantes who stumbled upon the last great gold deposits of Minas Gerais, through centuries of economic transformation — the collapse of alluvial mining, the long stagnation, the boom that building Brasília brought, and the arrival of modern industrial-scale extraction — right up to the present. The material was gathered and organised by São Paulo's renowned Museu da Pessoa, whose team conducted dozens of interviews with farmers, longtime workers, historians, and local cultural figures.↗↗

The Exhibition: Three Centuries in One Room

Stepping into Casa Kinross feels less like entering a conventional museum and more like sitting down with the city itself. Panels trace a clear timeline from the 1700s onward, but the emotional weight comes from seven screens playing video testimonies — elderly former garimpeiros describing the first automobile to roll down Rua Rio Grande do Sul; women recalling life before paved roads; schoolteachers explaining how Paracatu's isolation after the gold ran dry shaped its fiercely independent character.↗↗

The content is organised into three intertwined strands: the story of the city and its people, the geological and industrial history of mining in Paracatu and across Minas Gerais, and the broader arc of economic development that moved the town from colonial extraction through cattle ranching and soy monoculture to one of the world's largest open-pit gold operations.↗

Two full-length documentaries anchor the programme — one on mining, one on the old vila itself — ensuring visitors leave with more than scattered anecdotes. The Museu da Pessoa team, responsible for over 250 memory projects across Brazil and abroad, specifically flagged Paracatu as having an unusually deep well of local history that simply had no organised outlet before Casa Kinross existed.↗↗

More Than a Museum: Cultural Programming

Casa Kinross has an auditorium and regularly hosts workshops, conversation circles, and reading events tied to the annual Fliparacatu literary festival — the town's international book gathering, which has brought names like Itamar Vieira Junior (author of Torto Arado) to face-to-face dialogue with local schoolchildren. Kinross's social-investment director Ana Cunha describes the space as a place to "democratise culture" and let residents see their own stories told back to them.↗

The house also partners with local tour guides, disability associations, community groups, and the city's culture and education departments to keep programming year-round, not only during the festival window. School groups on the "Por dentro da Kinross" mine-visit circuit start their day here, giving students a historical frame before they tour the modern operations.↗↗

The Context: Why Paracatu Matters

To appreciate what's inside, it helps to know the setting outside. Paracatu earned the nickname "Princesa do Sertão" as the site of the last great gold strike in Minas Gerais. In 1744 the bandeirante Felisberto Caldeira Brant reported the discovery to the Portuguese crown; by 1798 the settlement had been elevated to a vila by royal decree. The alluvial veins played out by the 1820s, and the town spent over a century in economic twilight before the construction of Brasília (roughly 200 km to the north) injected new life via the BR-040 corridor.↗↗

IPHAN listed Paracatu's historic center as Brazilian national heritage in 2010, recognising its nearly intact colonial morphology — irregular streets following the natural topography, 250-odd protected façades, and two jewel-box churches (the Matriz de Santo Antônio, 1746, and Nossa Senhora do Rosário, 1744). Casa Kinross sits at the edge of this ensemble on Rua Rio Grande do Sul, a comfortable walking distance from both temples.↗↗↗

Planning Your Visit

Since late 2023 the house has opened to walk-in visitors on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8 am to 11:30 am and 1:30 pm to 5 pm (closed on public holidays). School groups and organised visits can be booked year-round by emailing casa.kinross@kinross.com.br or calling the toll-free WhatsApp line 0800 038 1051.↗

The center has restrooms on site. Allow roughly an hour for the exhibition; the video testimonies and documentaries are best experienced without rushing. If your trip coincides with the late-August Fliparacatu window, you can attend panels and author talks inside the auditorium — check the festival's programme for dates.↗

Pairing Casa Kinross with a stroll through the historic center next door, a stop at the Igreja Matriz de Santo Antônio, and the Museu Municipal makes for a satisfying half-day cultural circuit in a city that punches far above its weight in terms of storytelling and preserved architecture.↗↗

What makes it special

01

An interactive memory museum built on the voices of Paracatu residents themselves↗

02

Permanent exhibition covering Paracatu's history from the 18th-century bandeirantes to 21st-century industrial gold mining↗

03

Video testimonies collected by São Paulo's Museu da Pessoa, considered one of Brazil's most respected oral-history projects↗

04

Home base for Fliparacatu, the town's international literary festival, hosting major Brazilian authors↗

05

Free public admission on Tuesdays and Thursdays (8 am–11:30 am, 1:30–5 pm)↗

A little planning goes a long way

Free admission on public open days; no ticketing system found on the official site, so budget only for the trip itself.
Walk-in visits only Tuesday and Thursday; if arriving on another day, email casa.kinross@kinross.com.br ahead to arrange a group slot.↗↗
Pair with a stroll through the historic center — the Igreja Matriz de Santo Antônio (1746), the Nossa Senhora do Rosário church (1744), and the Museu Municipal are all within comfortable walking distance for a full cultural morning.↗↗
If you visit in late August, extend your stay for Fliparacatu: the festival fills the Casa Kinross auditorium with author talks and workshops.↗

About this guide

Compiled with AI assistance from the sources below; this is not a first-hand visit. Place details collected October 5, 2026. Hours, access and ratings can change; confirm with the venue before visiting.