<< Voltar

The construction of the Cathedral started in 1748 and during the following years, construction stopped many times.

In December 24th,1755, the Bishop D. Frei Miguel de Bulhões, a Dominican, Blessed it and declared it was open to the Public. In 1761 The Italian Architech Antonio Landi decorated it, but could not finished his work and reestarted in 1766. Finally in February 1774 the church was  almost completed.

The main Altar was made in Rome by Italian sculptor Luca Carimini. Pope Pius IX donated the Marble to built the Altar.  

The Paintings were done by an Italian painter Domenico De Angelis Sperindio and Alivertiof from the Neoclassic Period. The paintings represent faith and charity. They painted the cornice and frieze, and also the ceiling, portraying the Bishops of Pará, most prominently D. Macedo Costa, who had hired these artists in Italy in 1886.

De Angelis also painted, in 1891, three canvases placed in the side chapels, devoted to Saint Sebastian, Mary Magdalene and Saint Jerome. The canvases portraying the Holy Family were painted by Swiss Paulo von
Deschwauden, and were brought to Belém in 1873.

The churchâ??s floor plan follows the Latin Cross pattern: the monumental nave is sided by corridors starting at the vestibule, to facilitate the communication between different parts of the building. Side chapels inscribed onto the
walls are topped by tribunes. Mendonça assures us that the rooms annexed to the chancel, the pontifical hall and
the sacristy, reached by lateral corridors, were additions by Antônio Landi. The chancel is exceptionally long for a
regional church, since it was the headquarters for the bishopric and housed meetings of the local Chapter.

The Organ, built in 1882, is a Frenc Cavaillé-Coll, is the largest in Brazil and considered the largest in Latin American. it measures 26,24 ft Height, 18 ft Wide and 11.48 ft Depth. The last renovation was done in 1996 by a French company named Theo Haerpfer de Boulay from France. The organ was played again in June 14th in the Celebration called sacred Heart of Jesus, by the Archbishop D. Vicente Zico. Dom Vicente died in 2015.

The Last renovation of the church started in 2005 and it was finished in 2009 .

Based on

http://www.ascom.ufpa.br/

Book:  "Igrejas de Belém" by Historian Ernesto Cruz