Church of Boqueirão

Church of the Third Order of Our Lady of the Conception of the Mulatto Brothers

The church that divides Salvador in two

In 1726, in a place where there was a trench to defend Salvador, the Brotherhood of Our Lady of the Conception of the Mulatto Brothers asked the Viceroy of Brazil, Vasco F. Cesar de Menezes, for authorization to build a church on the site, which was graced with a stunning view of the All Saints Bay. There, the Church of the Third Order of Our Lady of the Conception of the Mulatto Brothers, in Santo Antônio Além do Carmo, was built.

The architecture of the place is similar to that of the Church of Rosary of the Black People, in Pelourinho. The building of the Catholic temple was completed between the end of the 18th century and the middle of the 19th century, with the construction of two towers on the main façade, covered with white tiles, in the Rococo style. Inside, the church is decorated in neoclassical and baroque style. A curiosity is that the church was named Boqueirão because it was built on a large hillside, where the old trench was located in the geological fault that divides the Upper City from the Lower City.

The church has three altars rich in details and gold-plated, as well as paintings that were discovered after the restoration in 2009. On the ceiling, it is possible to admire paintings of the Virgin Mary, under the title of Immaculate Conception, being glorified with the Holy Trinity . The temple has two basements, ground floor and first floor. The church has a sacristy, galleries, choir and consistory room. The last basement was transformed into a catacomb in the 19th century.

When the construction of the church was being completed, the brotherhood of the Mulatto Men was elevated to the status of a Venerable Third Order. Therefore, the temple is extremely important, as it represents mixed race people, who constituted a majority of the population, but did not have political power. At the time the religious space was built, the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary of the Black People had already been founded.

The church was listed by the National Institute of Artistic and Historical Heritage (Iphan) due to its cultural and historical importance. Currently, the temple is used for religious services and as the headquarters of the Brotherhood of Our Lady of the Conception of the Mulatto Brothers.

Service
Address: Rua Direita de Santo Antônio, Santo Antônio Além do Carmo
Phone #: (71) 3241-5603