Qualla: Vila Velha State Park https://qualla.com/vila-velha-state-park en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:08 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Vila Velha State Park https://qualla.com/vila-velha-state-park Vila Velha State Park: Introduction https://qualla.com/vila-velha-state-park/ The first Europeans to see these formations thought they were approaching a ruined city. Towers and walls of reddish stone rose from the grasslands of Parana, casting long shadows that looked, at a distance, like the remains of some abandoned medieval settlement. They called the place Vila Velha, the Old Village, and the name stuck. But the architects of this place are wind, rain, and 340 million years of patience. No human civilization built these structures. The Carboniferous period did, laying down sand at the bottom of an inland sea that has long since vanished, leaving behind stone sculptures that no mason could replicate.

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]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/g/s/2/vila-velha-state-park-wp/6gs2-vila-velha-state-park-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Vila Velha State Park: An Inland Sea Becomes Stone https://qualla.com/vila-velha-state-park/ The story begins roughly 340 million years ago, during the Carboniferous period, when much of what is now the interior of Parana lay beneath a shallow sea. As that sea retreated, it left behind vast deposits of sand. Iron oxide seeped through the sediment and cemented it into san...

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]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/g/s/2/vila-velha-state-park-wp/6gs2-vila-velha-state-park-an-inland-sea-becomes-stone.mp3 0:06 2 full Vila Velha State Park: A Bestiary in Stone https://qualla.com/vila-velha-state-park/ Visitors have been naming the formations for as long as people have been coming here. The Cup, Vila Velha's most famous shape, balances a wide bowl atop a narrow stem of rock, defying what looks like certain collapse. The Camel sits hunched on the grassland, its stone humps worn ...

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]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/g/s/2/vila-velha-state-park-wp/6gs2-vila-velha-state-park-a-bestiary-in-stone.mp3 0:06 3 full Vila Velha State Park: The Craters and the Golden Lagoon https://qualla.com/vila-velha-state-park/ Vila Velha is more than its stone towers. The park encompasses three distinct sites: the Arenitos, the sandstone formations that draw most visitors; the Furnas, three craters with sheer vertical walls carved deep into the earth; and Lagoa Dourada, the Golden Lagoon. The largest o...

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]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/g/s/2/vila-velha-state-park-wp/6gs2-vila-velha-state-park-the-craters-and-the-golden-lagoon.mp3 0:06 4 full Vila Velha State Park: Protecting the Old Village https://qualla.com/vila-velha-state-park/ Vila Velha became a state park in 1966, when Parana's Department of Historical and Artistic Heritage moved to protect the formations from the quarrying and development that threatened them. The park covers 3,803 hectares, about 100 kilometers from the state capital of Curitiba. B...

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]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/g/s/2/vila-velha-state-park-wp/6gs2-vila-velha-state-park-protecting-the-old-village.mp3 0:06 5 full