Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Salvador

Basilica of the Immaculate Conception

Façade of Church of Nossa Senhora da Conceição da Praia
Location of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Brazil
Basic information
Geographic coordinates 12°58′31″S 38°30′51″W / 12.975300°S 38.514290°W / -12.975300; -38.514290
Affiliation Catholic
Rite Roman
Municipality Salvador
State Bahia
Country Brazil
Designated 1938
Reference no. 122

The Basilica of the Immaculate Conception (Portuguese: Basílica Nossa Senhora da Conceição da Praia), also Basilica of the Conception, as a church in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. It is affiliated with the Catholic Church and was built in 1623, making it one of the oldest parishes in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of São Salvador da Bahia.[1][2][3][4] It was the first church built by the first governor-general of Brazil, Tomé de Sousa. The current construction, in the Baroque style, was made with a model brought from Portugal. Its elevation to the status of basilica took place in 1946. Pope Pius XII declared Our Lady of Conception the sole patron of the State of Bahia.[5]

History

The present church structure is the third to be built on the site. Tomé de Souza (1503-1579), the first governor-general of the Portuguese colony of Brazil, built a primitive chapel in 1549 in the initial period of construction of Salvador. The growth of the population of the Cidade Baixa and area near the port of Salvador necessitated the construction of a larger church. Marcos Teixeira de Mendonça (1578-1624), a bishop and resistance leader against the Dutch attacks against Brazil, expanded the structure in 1623. It was renamed Matriz da Nova Freguesia de Nossa Senhora da Conceição da Praia and was financed by wealthy Portuguese merchants in the area.[6]

The Santíssimo Sacramento da Imaculada Conceição, a fraternal order, decided to completely rebuild the church in 1736.[7][8]

The military engineer Manuel Cardoso de Saldanha planned the church and Manuel Vicente, a master stonemason, supervised its construction. The master bricklayer and architect Eugénio da Mota prepared the lioz stonework in Portugal and accompanied it to Salvador. Construction on the church began in 1739 but was delayed in 1758 by a financial downturn in Bahia. The woodcarver Lourenço Rodrigues Lançarote completed the elaborate side altars in 1765. The new structure was dedicated on December 8 of the same year. Further work on the church was completed in 1849.[5][7][8]

The church of the Immaculate Conception received the title of minor basilica by the Apostolic Letter "Coruscantis sideris" of the 7 of October 1946, by decision of the Holy See.[7] It is located in the Comercio district near the Lacerda Elevator and Modelo Market and may be visited.

Structure

The Basilica of the Immaculate Conception faces directly northwest onto the Bay of All Saints. After numerous additions to the port facilities of the area it now sits at the south the cidade baixa, or lower city. Parts of the church, notably the chancel, are built directly into the cliff that marks the cidade baixa. The interior of the church is the first complete example of the Baroque style of John V of Portugal. A highlight of the interior is a painting on the ceiling of the nave in the Baroque illusionist style by José Joaquim da Rocha (c. 1737-1807).[9][7]

Protected status

The Basilica of the Immaculate Conception was listed as a historic structure by the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage in 1938. It is listed in the Book of Historical Works process no. 112-T, inscription no. 126.[9]

See also

Internal View

References

  1. ↑ Vries, Alexandra de; Blore, Shawn (2012-04-24). Frommer's? Brazil. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9781118086063.
  2. ↑ Basilica of the Immaculate Conception
  3. ↑ Bahia, Instituto Genealógico da (2005-01-01). Revista do Instituto Genealógico da Bahia (in Portuguese). The Institute.
  4. ↑ Havik, Philip J.; Newitt, M. D. D. (2007-01-01). Creole Societies in the Portuguese Colonial Empire. University of Bristol, Department of Hispanic, Portuguese & Latin American Studies. ISBN 9780955392269.
  5. 1 2 Bazin, Germain (1956). L'architecture religieuse baroque au Brésil (in French). 2. São Paulo: Museu de Arte. pp. 23–24.
  6. ↑ Departamento de Cultura da Secretaria de Educação e Cultura da Prefeitura da Cidade do Salvador, ed. (1977). Pequena guia das igrejas da Bahia (in Portuguese). Bahia: Prefeitura do Salvador. pp. 5–6.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Lins, Eugénio Ávila (2012). "Church of Our Lady of the Conception of Praia". Heritage of Portuguese Influence/Património de Influência Portuguesa. Retrieved 2017-02-17.
  8. 1 2 Smith, Robert C. (1956). "Nossa Senhora da Conceicao da Praia and the Joanine Style in Brazil" (PDF). The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. 15 (3): 16–23. Retrieved 2017-02-17.
  9. 1 2 Carrazzoni, Maria, ed. (1980). Guia dos bens tombados (in Portuguese). Rio de Janeiro, RJ: EXPED-Expansão Editorial. p. 93. ISBN 9788520800577.
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