Notre Dame de Rouen. The façade of the Gothic Church in France. Photographer: Hippo1947. Licence: SHUTTERSTOCK.

23 July, 2025

Candelária Church, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.



English:
The Dome, Candelária Church,
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Português:
Igreja da Candelária
Photo: 22 February 2014.
Source: Own work.
This File is licensed under the
(Wikimedia Commons)



English: In 1896, João Zeferino da Costa created
the eight panels of the Dome, chronicling the
splendours of Candelária Church, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Português: Em 1896 o pintor João Zeferino da Costa executou os oito painéis da cúpula, historiando os faustos da igreja.
Photo: 11 March 2012.
Source: Own work.
This File is licensed under the
(Wikimedia Commons)


Text from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,
unless stated otherwise.

Candelária Church (Portuguese: Igreja da Candelária) is an important historical Roman Catholic Church in the City of Rio de Janeiro, in South-East Brazil.

It was built and decorated during a long period, from 1775 to the Late-19th-Century. The Church combines a Portuguese Colonial Baroque façade with later Neo-Classical and Neo-Renaissance interior elements.


English:
The High Altar, Candelária Church,
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Português:
Interior da Igreja de 
Nossa Senhora da Candelária.
Photo: 3 February 2020.
Source: Own work.
This File is licensed under the 
(Wikimedia Commons)


The quasi-legendary history about the establishment of the Church is that, in the beginning of the 17th-Century, a ship called the Candelária almost sank during a storm at sea.

Upon arriving in Rio de Janeiro, a Portuguese couple, António Martins Palma and Leonor Gonçalves, sponsored the building of a small Chapel, fulfilling the oath they made during the storm. This small Chapel, dedicated to Our Lady of Candelária, was built around 1609.


English: Candelária Church in 1856.
Português: Igreja de 
Nossa Senhora da Candelária - 
Praça Pio X, Avenida Presidente Vargas, 
Rio de Janeiro.
Source: 
Lithographia Imperial de Eduardo Rensburg 
Rio de Janeiro.
Author: Bertichem, Pieter Godfred.
(Wikimedia Commons)


In the second-half of the 18th-Century, as the ancient Chapel was in need of repair, a Portuguese Military Engineer, Francisco João Roscio, was put in charge of the project of a new larger building.

The work started in 1775 and the Church – still unfinished – was Consecrated in 1811 in the presence of King John VI of Portugal, who was in Rio with the whole Portuguese Court.


English:
Candelária Church, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Português:
Igreja de 
Nossa Senhora da Candelária
no Rio de Janeiro.
Photo: 11 March 2012.
Source: Own work.
This File is licensed under the 
(Wikimedia Commons)


From this early period (1775 – 1811) the splendid main façade was built in Baroque Style with Neo-Classical elements. The interior of the Church was, however, greatly modified afterwards, as the Floor-Plan was changed from a one-Aisled Nave to a three-Aisled Nave.

Enslaved people were Baptised in the Church, including Rosa Egipcíaca, the first Black woman to write a book in Brazil. The book was a Religious text revealing her visions, and was entitled Sagrada Teologia do Amor Divino das Almas Peregrinas.[1]

Around 1856, the Stone Roof of the Aisles were completed, but the Dome over the Crossing was still unfinished.

The Dome would only be completed in 1877 after the intervention of several architects and much discussion and planning.


English:
The High Altar, Candelária Church,
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Português:
Altar da Igreja de 
Nossa Senhora da Candelária
no Rio de Janeiro.
Photo: 11 March 2012.
Source: Own work.
This File is licensed under the 
(Wikimedia Commons)


The Dome and its eight Statues were made in White Lioz Stone, in Lisbon, Portugal, and brought to Brazil by ship. When finished, the Dome of the Candelária was the tallest structure in the City.

After 1878, the interior of Candelária Church began to be re-designed in the Neo-Renaissance Style. The Walls and Columns were covered with Italian Marble of various colours, and abundant sculptural relief decoration.

Brazilian painter João Zeferino da Costa was commissioned to paint the Nave and inner part of the Dome. On the ceiling of the main Aisle, Zeferino da Costa and his assistants painted six panels telling the history of the Church.

Other elements of interest include: The High Altar by Brazilian architect Archimedes Memória; the various German Stained-Glass Windows; the Bronze Doors (circa 1901) of the main entrance, by Portuguese sculptor António Teixeira Lopes; and the two monumental Bronze Pulpits in the Art-Nouveau Style by Portuguese sculptor Rodolfo Pinto do Couto (1931).


English:
The Arch in the Nave,
Candelária Church,
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Português:
Arco da nave da Igreja 
de Nossa Senhora da Candelária
no Rio de Janeiro.
Photo: 11 March 2012.
Source: Own work.
This File is licensed under the 
(Wikimedia Commons)


The Candelária Church is a Latin-Cross Church with a Dome over the Transept. The Nave has three Aisles and an Apse. The whole ensemble may have been inspired by the Church at the Convent of Mafra, and in the Estrela Basílica of Lisbon, both in Portugal.

The main façade shows Baroque influences in the design of the Windows, Doors, and Towers, as well as Neo-Classical influences in the façade and the triangular Pediment.


English: Ceiling and Dome,
Candelária Church, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Português: Teto do altar e cúpula da Igreja 
de Nossa Senhora da Candelária 
no Rio de Janeiro.
Photo: 11 March 2012.
Source: Own work.
This file is licensed under the 
(Wikimedia Commons)


The façade contrasts the Dark Granite of Windows, Columns and other elements with Whitewashed Wall segments, a typical characteristic of Colonial Churches in Rio.

The Church has been the site of several significant moments in the contemporary history of Brazil, such as the Memorial Mass of High School student Edson Luís de Lima Souto, and the Diretas Já campaign for popular direct Presidential Elections attended by over a million people in 1984.

The area around the Church was the site of the Candelária massacre of 23 July 1993, which brought worldwide attention to the issue of Police brutality toward Street Children in Brazil.

The official cauldron for the 2016 Summer Olympics was placed in a Plaza outside the Church.[2]

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