Sanctuary of Bom Jesus de Matosinhos
Santuário do Bom Jesus de Matosinhos
- UNESCO World Heritage
Interesting facts
- Of the twelve soapstone prophets, only Daniel is believed to have been carved entirely by Aleijadinho himself, judging by its superior finish.
- According to legend, the original Bom Jesus image washed ashore at Matosinhos in Portugal in the year 124 and was carved by Nicodemus.
- The hillside follows the European sacro monte model, and the path between the chapels zigzags so that pilgrims feel the effort of Christ's climb.
- Each September, from the 8th to the 14th, the sanctuary hosts a Jubilee granted by Pope Pius VI in 1779; over 100,000 pilgrims were counted in 2005.
- The curving terrace has Portuguese precedents in the stairways of Bom Jesus do Monte at Braga and Nossa Senhora dos Remédios at Lamego.
- Art historian Germain Bazin traced the prophets' 15th-century costumes to Florentine Renaissance engravings that circulated in colonial Brazil.
- Some scholars read the prophets as portraits of the Inconfidência Mineira conspirators of 1789, though no evidence links Aleijadinho to politics.
- Gilberto Freyre saw the grotesque faces of the soldiers in the Passion chapels as a veiled protest against colonial and racial oppression.
- Work on the chapels stalled after 1818 and resumed only in 1864, so the whole ensemble took until 1875 to finish.
- Inside the nave, two large carved dragons hold up the lamps, and fantastic animals are carved at the base of the pulpits.
Why it is worth it
The Sanctuary of Bom Jesus de Matosinhos crowns a hill above the old mining town of Congonhas in Minas Gerais, and it holds the most important body of work by the Brazilian sculptor and architect known as Aleijadinho. It began with a vow: in 1757 Feliciano Mendes recovered from a serious illness, raised a cross on the hilltop, lived there as a hermit and gave his fortune to build a church to the Bom Jesus, a devotion imported from Matosinhos in Portugal. Construction went on in stages for more than a century, and the ensemble became one of the great pilgrimage centres of Brazil.
The church is a single-nave colonial Baroque building with a richly gilded Rococo interior, but what draws most visitors is outside. A monumental terrace with curving double staircases, built between 1777 and 1790, was later populated with twelve Old Testament prophets carved in soapstone by Aleijadinho and his workshop between 1800 and 1805. Set on the parapets against the sky, their gesturing figures work as architecture as much as sculpture and have become the best-known image of Brazilian Baroque art.
Below the terrace, six small chapels line the slope and hold the Stations of the Passion: 66 life-size figures in carved and painted wood, on which Aleijadinho's workshop was recorded at work from 1796, with painting completed over the following decades by artists including Mestre Ataíde. Inside the church, the Room of Miracles preserves generations of ex-votos left by pilgrims. The sanctuary was protected as national heritage in 1939, made a minor basilica in 1957 and inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1985.
Getting there
The sanctuary is on the Morro do Maranhão in Congonhas, reached by steep cobbled streets from the historic centre. The nearest major airport is Tancredo Neves International Airport (CNF), which serves Belo Horizonte, about 97 km away. Most visitors arrive by road from Belo Horizonte.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
The Sanctuary of Bom Jesus de Matosinhos is an 18th-century Roman Catholic basilica in Congonhas, Minas Gerais, Brazil. It was designed in the Baroque style with an Italian-inspired Rococo interior. The basilica is noted for its grand outdoor stairway with statues of Old Testament prophets. The interior has seven side chapels which illustrate the Stations of the Cross; each has a polychrome sculpture made by the artist Aleijadinho and his assistants. They are considered masterpieces of an original, moving, and expressive form of Baroque art. The basilica was listed as a historic structure by the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage (IPHAN) in 1939, and designated it as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.
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