The Basilica Sanctuary of Nossa Senhora da Conceição da Praia ou Church of Nossa Senhora da Conceição da Praia is located in the Lower City of Salvador, in Bahia, the Church of Nossa Senhora da Conceição da Praia which is a few meters from the Lacerda's elevator and Model market.
The Basilica of Nossa Senhora da Conceição da Praia has a particularity that deserves to be highlighted: it was prefabricated in Portugal, the numbered parts transported by caravels across the Atlantic Ocean and finally assembled in Brazil.
Imposing, watching the All Saints Bay, is the starting point of the procession with the image of Nossa Senhora da Conceição to the Church of Nosso Senhor do Bonfim on the traditional feast of the day of Washing Bonfim where the stairs are washed with scented water by baianas dressed in white.
The party takes place every year on the second Thursday of January after Epiphany.
Foundation: built in 1549
Address: Rua da Conceição da Praia, s/n, Comércio – Salvador – BA
Video about Basilica of Nossa Senhora da Conceição da Praia
Basilica Sanctuary of Our Lady of Conceição da Praia
See also other features Churches of Salvador da Bahia – History and Architecture
History of the Basilica of Nossa Senhora da Conceição da Praia
The Basilica Sanctuary Nossa Senhora da Conceição da Praia, or Church of Nossa Senhora da Conceição da Praia, built in 1549, having its matrix elevated in 1623, is one of the oldest parishes in the Archdiocese of São Salvador da Bahia, in Brazil.
The project was developed in Portugal and its current construction, which began in 1739 and ended in 1849, in Baroque style, was made entirely of Lioz stone brought from Portugal, at the request of the Brotherhood of the Blessed Sacrament and Our Lady of Conceição da Praia , maintainer of the Basilica.
The stones were glued together with whale oil and the work lasted 300 years, involving three generations of craftsmen.
In 1946, it was elevated to Sacrosanct Basilica, when Pope Paul VI declared Nossa Senhora da Conceição da Praia, unique and secular Patroness of the State of Bahia.
The plans were made by the military engineer Manuel Cardoso de Saldanha, and the executor of the materials was the master mason Manuel Vicente.
Master mason architect Eugénio da Mota, from Portugal, prepared the stones and accompanied their transport to Salvador, also being responsible for building the temple.
Its interior has the first most complete demonstration of Dom João V's baroque in Brazil, highlighting the painting on the nave's ceiling, which obeys the baroque illusionist conception of Italian origin by José Joaquim da Rocha.
The monumentality of its facade, with neoclassical features, is enhanced by the diagonal placement of the towers. The church presents characteristics of the Alentejo architecture.
It is a prefabricated church in Portugal, in stone from Lioz, which arrived in Brazil in separate and numbered pieces.
Eugênio da Mota, as previously mentioned, was expressly hired to assemble the “architectural puzzle”, and his stay in Brazil was extended until the end of the work.
The procedure for preparing constructive pieces in Portugal was not limited to the elements that required the intervention of specialized craftsmen, but also, frequently, included the simplest foundations that support the walls.
The almost unadorned limestone walls of the church are divided by a grandiose order of Doric pilasters, supporting the royal gutter around the entire nave.
The painting of the ceiling of the nave
The painting on the nave's ceiling is a vast painting traditionally accepted as the work of José Joaquim da Rocha.
It belongs to the category called "perspective painting" or illusionist, because it seeks to deceive the viewer's eyes with false architecture and illusory space.
The subject of the painting is the glorification of the Blessed Virgin of the Immaculate Conception, who appears crowned with stars, on top of her particular symbol – the new moon. At her feet, four women are seen festively dressed to pay homage to her.
The two on the left should represent America and Europe. On the right, Asia and Africa complete the group of four parts of the world. On top of the Virgin, there is the Holy Trinity, with the Agnus Dei adored by Saint John the Evangelist and the Holy Precursor.
side altars
The plan of the church's nave is wide and long (28,50 meters by 19,80 meters), ending at the ends of the main axis with a polygonal area on three sides.
Between these walls and four doors, which communicate with the corridors, there are three side altars on each side, installed in square chapels of great depth.
The openings of the chapels and portals form, in the lower part of the nave, a chain of twelve equal arches, dominated by the rhythm of the immense arch of the chancel, rising very high to make the connection with the arches of the tribunes of the upper floor.
Sister Dulce's first tomb
Soon after her death, Sister Dulce was buried in the Church of Conceição da Praia, in Salvador. In 2000, with the beginning of the beatification process of the nun, her remains were then transferred to the Chapel of the Santo Antônio Convent, in Largo de Roma.
A decade later, on June 09, 2010, the nun's remains were transferred to the Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God - today also known as the Sanctuary of the Blessed Dulce dos Pobres, located next to the headquarters of the Obras Sister Dulce Society (OSID).
Pope Francis promulgated the decree that recognizes the second miracle attributed to the intercession of Sister Dulce, thus fulfilling the last stage of the canonization process of the Blessed Bahian woman.
The nun, known as the Good Angel of Bahia, will become the first saint born in Brazil and her canonization will be the third fastest in history (27 years after her death), behind only the sanctification of Pope John Paul II (9 years after her death) and of Mother Teresa of Calcutta (19 years after the nun's death).
