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The São Francisco Church and Convent of Salvador (Portuguese: Convento e Igreja de São Francisco)
I wanted to make as large of a photo as possible so you could get a feel, as we did, of the enormity of the gilded, carved work in this church . . . like, a museum, actually.
Outside, in the pedestrian plaza, where we had just eaten a mid-afternoon lunch, we were walking on some historic stones. The 1807 marble cross is from Lisbon, Portugal. (Wikipedia says: A large cross [Portuguese: cruzeiro] was common to Franciscan churches in Brazil; it demarcated the sacred space of an urban area.) Noting the blue building on the right, it houses "the Society to Protect the Black Community, founded in 1832, to provide help and aid to invalids, underprivileged, elderly, infirm, indigenous, etc."
A colonial monument in Brazil, São Francisco Church and Convent of Salvador was listed as a historic structure by the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage in 1938. It's one of the Seven Wonders of Portuguese Origin in the World and forms integral parts of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Historic Center of Salvador. (from Wikipedia)
(Note: The following info is from Wikipedia.)
The church building itself is made of limestone. The friars of the Franciscan Order arrived in Salvador in 1587 and constructed a convent and church on the site. This structure was destroyed by the Dutch during the Dutch invasions of Bahia* in the 1600s; Father Vicente das Chagas initiated a grandiose design in 1686 for the current structure that then took decades to complete. Building began in 1708; was completed in 1723. The interior's "gilded (gold dust) over carved woodwork" was done during the 1st half of 1700s. Most decoration of the church and convent were finished by 1755. (*Bahia is 1 of the 26 states of Brazil.)
The beginning of seeing Portuguese blue tiles. Note the carvings on the lecterns.
Lots of "young ones" were incorporated into this section, but they're not cherubs because these have no wings.
This isn't all :) !!! Now to a hallway and the cloisters. (from the web: "The cloister was an important part of a medieval monastery - it was where the monks would have meditated, studied and exercised. In many monasteries, manuscripts were written in or around the cloister – one of their advantages was that they were roofed, but provided ample light." The meaning "surrounded with a covered passage.")
Blue tile work from Lisbon, Portugal
"Of the approximately 50,000 tiles/(azulejos) in the church and convent, 35,000 are used in the cloister. The azulejos, like lioz marble, were carried to Brazil in the ballast of Portuguese ships. The azulejos were produced in Portugal by an unknown artist." (Wikipedia)
5:30 ~ Closing Time ~ and the sun's going down.
Watch Your Step !
Going to "Visiting Brazil6" [Salvador 2 of 2] - Page 3, AROUND TOWN>