Catedral Metropolitana de Sao Sebastiao de Rio de Janeiro
The Catedral Metropolitana de São Sebastião de Rio de Janeiro (Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Sebastian of Rio de Janeiro), often just called "Catedral" or "Catedral Nova", is a Catholic church on Avenida do Chile in the Centro district of the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro . The cathedral, designed by Edgar Fonseca in the style of modernism and built from 1964 to 1979, is the seat of the Archdiocese of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro .
history
According to its own account, the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro needed a larger church because the 19th century Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Monte do Carmo had become too small. Only after long negotiations with the government of the state of Guanabara did the archbishopric get a piece of land in the center of the city. Cardinal D. Jaime de Barros Câmara laid the foundation stone for the new cathedral in the Brazilian city on January 20, 1964 , Ivo Antônio Calliari was in charge of the construction work , and Edgar Fonseca, professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro , carried out the main design .
In 1972 Cardinal Eugênio de Araújo Sales was able to celebrate Christmas mass in the church. On November 16, 1976, the three hundredth anniversary of the archdiocese, Cardinal Sales consecrated the main altar of the cathedral. The building, designed in the shape of a truncated cone in the modernist style, was completed on July 18, 1979 after 15 years of construction and consecrated by Sales on August 15, 1979. With the consecration of the cathedral, the archbishopric moved its seat from the Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Carmo (also "Old Cathedral") to the new church building.
As the seat of one of the most important archbishopric of the Catholic Church on the South American continent, the church was visited several times by popes. For the 25th anniversary of the Latin American Bishops' Council , Pope John Paul II visited the cathedral on July 2, 1980 and conducted a memorial service on the occasion. For the second World Family Meeting of the Pope, Pope John Paul II visited the cathedral on October 4, 1987. On World Youth Day 2013 , Pope Francis visited the cathedral on his first trip abroad on July 27, 2013.
Architectural description
Exterior
The church building is 75 meters high and has a circular base area with a diameter of 106 meters. From the outside, the building resembles a topless pyramid, so Fonseca is often said to be inspired by Mayan pyramids. The entire building is made of reinforced concrete, the facade is unplastered.
inner space
The circular interior, designed by Paulo Lachen Maier , has a floor area of 8,200 square meters, is 64 meters high, has a diameter of 96 meters and is dominated by the central altar. The interior should have space for up to 20,000 worshipers (standing) or 5000 believers (sitting). The prayer benches are lined up in concentric circles around the altar, above which a large wooden cross hangs from the ceiling. Smaller services are held in a small chapel behind the altar. The interior is illuminated from four sides by large colored windows that run up to the ceiling, which are supposed to represent the four essential characteristics of the universal Church (unity, holiness, catholicity and apostolicity). The ceiling also lets light fall into the interior in the form of a Greek cross.
Over the years, the interior has received numerous other details: Among other things, there are twelve bronze plaques on the ground-level walls of the room with the stations of the cross. Furthermore, there are small statues of the patron saint, Saint Sebastian of Rio de Janeiro, as well as Nossa Senhora da Nazaré , who is widely revered in Brazil .
In the basement, in addition to the community premises, a museum of sacred art (Museu de Arte Sacra) and the archives of the curia are set up.
Surroundings
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Next to the church is the free-standing bell tower . Various statues have been erected in the immediate vicinity of the church building over the years.
A statue of Pope John Paul II in front of the main entrance of the cathedral is a gift from the Irmandade Glorioso Patriarca São José to the Archdiocese.
To the right of the statue of the Pope is a statue of Mother Teresa , which was erected on August 9, 2016 , a gift from the Albanian government financed by the Albanian businessman Kadri Morina. The statue is 2.2 meters high, weighs 800 kilograms and was designed by the Albanian artist Thoma Thomai . A plaque in the narthex of the church describes the details of the figure.
To the left of the statue of the Pope is a bench with a statue of Jesus Christ wrapped in a blanket. The work of art is called Estátua Jesus sem teto (Homeless Jesus), designed by the Canadian artist Timothy Schmalz .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c História - Catedral Metropolitana de São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro. Retrieved August 29, 2019 (Brazilian Portuguese).
- ↑ a b c Construção - Catedral Metropolitana de São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro. Retrieved August 29, 2019 (Brazilian Portuguese).
Coordinates: 22 ° 54 '39.4 " S , 43 ° 10' 50.6" W.