Basilica Nosso Senhor do Bonfim

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facade
Inner space; above the high altar in front of a red drapery the Crucifixus Senhor do Bonfim

The basilica Nosso Senhor do Bonfim ( German  Our Lord of Good Death ) is one of the most important Roman Catholic churches in Salvador in the Brazilian state of Bahia . The church of the Archdiocese of São Salvador da Bahia was built in the 18th century on a hill on the Itapagipe peninsula in the lower town of Salvador. The famous Festa do Senhor do Bonfim is held here every January . It is part of the National Historical Heritage of Brazil and, as part of the historic center of Salvador, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site . The Crucifixus Senhor do Bonfim is a highly venerated image of grace in Bahia .

history

In 1740, Captain Teodósio Rodrigues de Faria from Setúbal, Portugal, brought the statue of Jesus do Bonfim to Salvador, for which the Church of Senhor Bom Jesus do Bonfim was built between 1746 and 1754 by the Bonfim religious brotherhood. The towers were completed around 1772. In the 19th century, the Bonfim Brotherhood built houses to accommodate pilgrims on the square in front of the church. Pope Pius XI raised the church to the rank of minor basilica in 1927 . The church was inscribed on the list of the National Historical Heritage of Brazil by the Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional in 1938 . In 1985, the old town of Salvador was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which includes the basilica.

architecture

The architecture in the classical style follows the model of the Portuguese churches of the 18th and 19th centuries with beautiful frescoes and tiles. The single-nave church was built from bricks. The flat facade of the church consists of a central body flanked by two bell towers. The windows and the elaborate volutes of the gable were later designed based on the Rococo style. The lower parts of the facade were covered with Portuguese azulejo tiles in 1873 . The towers were closed with onion domes at the end of the 19th century .

Furnishing

The interior of the church was completed in the 19th century. The neoclassical main altar, in the shape of a canopy with a dome supported by volutes, was carved by the sculptor Antônio Joaquim dos Santos between 1813 and 1814. The side walls of the nave are decorated with several altarpieces. Between 1816 and 1817, Antônio de Santa Rosa carved the ceiling of the choir, its stands, the choir arch and two side altars. A special feature of the church is the wooden ceiling, which the Bahia artist Franco Velasco painted between 1818 and 1820. In it the people show that they thank the Lord von Bonfim for surviving a shipwreck. In the sacristy, in the nave and in other rooms of the church, paintings by the famous painter José Teófilo de Jesus from Bahia can be seen in the 1830s .

Celebrations

Cleaning the church stairs with the Águas de Oxalá

The Festa do Bonfim is one of the most important annual popular festivals in Salvador, which begins on the second Thursday after Epiphany and lasts for ten days. The festival dates from the late 18th century. This Thursday, the faithful gather in front of the Conceição da Praia church in downtown Salvador, including a large group of Bahia women in traditional white dress with turbans and long, round skirts. After the mass, the faithful take part in a procession that leaves the Church of Conceição da Praia and, after an eight-kilometer course, reaches the hill of the Bonfim Church. Once at the top, the Bahians clean the steps and the square in front of the church with flavored water, dance and sing chants in the Yoruba language . The washing ritual is called Lavagem do Bonfim and attracts a large number of believers as well as tourists. The festival forms a syncretistic connection from the Catholic origin to the Candomblé religion, in which Our Lord of Bonfim is connected with Oxalá , the father of the Orishas and creator of humanity. After the end of Catholicism as the state religion, the Catholic Church had repeatedly forbidden the washing of church steps.

In the area of ​​the church, cotton bracelets with the expression Lembrança do Senhor do Bonfim da Bahia are sold as souvenirs and amulets, tens of thousands of which also flutter on the wrought iron fences in front of the church.

Web links

Commons : Basilica Nosso Senhor do Bonfim  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Igreja do Bonfim in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil . In: Frank's Travelbox (travel planner).
  2. ↑ UNESCO, Historic Center of Salvador de Bahia. In: World Heritage List.
  3. ↑ Festa do Senhor do Bonfim 2017
  4. ↑ Basílica do Senhor do Bonfim on gcatholic.org
  5. ↑ Homepage of the basilica (Portuguese)
  6. ↑ a b Karl Horat: Peace, Joy, Lavender Water. In: Catholic Sunday newspaper. January 14, 2019, accessed May 4, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Igreja do Senhor do Bonfim (Portuguese)
  8. ↑ Portal Brasil: Na Bahia, a festa do Nosso Senhor do Bonfim se torna Patrimônio Imaterial do Brasil (Portuguese)

Coordinates: 12 ° 55 ′ 25.3 "  S , 38 ° 30 ′ 29.2"  W.