Sao Francisco (Salvador)
Church and Convent São Francisco ( Portuguese Igreja e Convento de São Francisco ) are a Franciscan church with a monastery in Salvador da Bahia in Brazil .
Located in the heart of the city, they were built in the 17th and 18th centuries and are considered a unique and particularly magnificent example of the Brazilian Baroque , especially the church with its rich interior. The ensemble was subordinated to the IPHAN in 1985 and today, together with the historic center of Salvador, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site ; São Francisco de Salvador was also voted one of the "Seven Wonders of the World of Portuguese Origin" ( Sete Maravilhas de Origem Portuguesa no Mundo ) in 2009.
The Igreja da Ordem Terceira de São Francisco is also nearby .
history
The convent was founded in 1585 with the authorization of Pope Sixtus V by the Franciscan Melchior de Santa Catarina, the custodian of Olinda in Pernambuco . There was already a small chapel and some temporary dwellings on site. At the request of Bishop Dom Antônio Barreiros, Melchior sent two monks to Bahia in the same year, the brothers Antônio da Ilha and Francisco de São Boaventura, who should push ahead with the establishment of the convent and the start of construction work; however, this only began in 1587.
In 1675 it was decided to build a new building under the direction of the Provincial Vicente das Chagas. This commissioned Brother Daniel de São Francisco to collect donations for the work. As the community had grown, the new buildings were designed on a larger scale.
Work officially began on December 20, 1686 with the laying of the foundation stone . First the cloister was built, based on plans by Francisco Pinheiro. In 1701 the authorization was given that the Third Order of the Franciscans was allowed to build its own church, including a cemetery and other buildings. From 1705 the decoration of the cloister began and the altar of the infirmary was erected, from 1710 walls and pillars. The decoration with blue and white azulejos was realized from 1749 to 1752.
In the meantime other parts of the ensemble have also been built. 1708 began with the choir of the church. Since the terrain was steeply sloping, it first had to be straightened and a solid foundation laid. The work was directed by Manoel Quaresma and from 1710 by Brother Hilário da Visitação. It is not known for certain who the architect was, possibly also Francisco Pinheiro. The project had to be changed in the meantime, renouncing the planned dome, as the administrator of the monastery, Francisco Oliveira Porto, had started to build some houses in the designated place.
The choir, vaults, walls and pulpit were finished in 1713, so that this part could be consecrated on October 3rd of the same year and used for the celebration of mass. The rest of the church, including the sandstone facade , was completed by 1720, as can be seen from a plaque on the facade. In the same year the choir stalls from the previous church were installed, and work on the interior decoration began.
In 1729 the pillars of the cloister were completed by Brother Álvaro da Conceição, and in 1733 Brother Jerônimo da Graça began painting the church ceiling. In 1737 the azulejos of the choir chapel were added, the following year the decorations on the pillars in the cloister and the gilding of the main and side altars, and the altar of São Luís was built in the crossing . In 1741 the altar of the Nossa Senhora da Glória followed , and Brother Manoel do Nascimento began with the floor. Between 1749 and 1752, work on the cloister and library was completed. The entrance area with its altars was completed in 1752 and was covered with azulejos in 1782. The towers, including bells and clock, were completed in 1796–1797.
description
church
It is located in a square, the Largo do Cruzeiro, which merges into the Terreiro de Jesus , and shows the influences of Jesuit architecture, strictly on the outside, but richly decorated inside. The visible parts of the building are made of limestone , the remaining parts of sandstone . The simplicity of the square bell towers, crowned with tiled pyramids, contrasts with the central structure, with the three round arches of its portals and a gable decorated with large volutes . Leslie Bethell identified an influence from Sebastiano Serlio on the facade. The floor plan is unusual for a Franciscan church in northeastern Brazil, which normally only has one nave; São Francisco in Salvador, on the other hand, has three aisles, even if the aisles are very low, narrow and covered by a gallery and serve more as a kind of deambulatorium between the side chapels. Besides the choir chapel, which is dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi , the church has eight side chapels, two of which are in the arms of the transept . The left is dedicated to Nossa Senhora da Glória , the right to St. Louis of Toulouse .
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The church gets its special value from the exuberant and precious interior decoration. All surfaces of the interior - walls, columns, roof, chapels - are decorated with gilded carvings on a white background in the typical Portuguese style (so-called Talha dourada ), with floral motifs, tendrils, shells, friezes, arches, volutes and countless figures of angels and Birds; the latter stand out from the white and gold ornamentation with a colored frame.
It is estimated that around a ton of gold was used for the gilding. The author (s) of the talha dourada is not known. There are pulpits on both sides , which are also richly decorated.
In the choir, on the main altar, there is a larger than life group of sculptures depicting the appearance of Christ to St. Francis . This sculpture was only created in 1930 by the Bahian artist Pedro Ferreira , but in the style and technique of the Baroque and under the artistic advice of Francisco da Silva Pedreira; A painting by the Spanish baroque painter Bartolomé Esteban Murillo served as a template and inspiration . Before it was installed, the sculpture was exhibited in a gallery in Salvador, attracting great interest and widespread praise, including that of masters from the Escola de Belas Artes . In front of it hangs a silver chandelier weighing around 80 kilograms and almost two meters high, which is dated from 1758 to 1761 - a gift from Captain Antônio André Torres. In the choir chapel there are also paintings with scenes from the life of St. Francis by the Portuguese artist Bartolomeu Antunes from Lisbon from 1737, probably a commission from Brother Manuel das Mercês. The side chapels have no fixed patronage , from the beginning various saints were venerated there, the statues are changed periodically according to a kind of rolling system.
The ceiling of the nave is decorated with cassettes, some of which have the shape of large eight-pointed stars, and are decorated with painted scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary , which, according to Augusto Telles , were created by Brother Jerônimo da Graça between 1733 and 1737 . The carvings of the choir stalls and the mess altar as well as the grids made of natural colored wood between the side chapels date from the 17th century and are the work of Brother Luis de Jesus, also known as " Brother Torneiro " (= tournament); these are the oldest elements of the decoration that still come from the previous church. On the vault of the choir there is also a rich oratorio with a crucifix and ten small niches for the relics of various saints, including the skull of an unknown martyr named São Fidélis Martyr - a gift from Pope Innocent XII.
The jewels of the church also include statues of St. Peter of Alcantara by the Bahian carver Manuel Inácio da Costa and one of St. Anthony , possibly commissioned by Garcia d'Ávila ; a series of azulejos with scenes from the life of the church patron Francis was created in 1737 by Bartolomeu Antunes de Jesus, an artist from Lisbon. The holy water at the entrance were, according to tradition of Dom João VI. donated. The decoration of the flooring follows the pattern of the carvings on the ceiling.
The sacristy is also richly decorated. The corridor that connects them to the church is decorated with paintings and azulejos with biblical scenes. From here a staircase leads to the stands and the choir of the church as well as to the upper floor of the convent building. The passage is decorated with azulejos depicting various scenes: allegories of the senses and the months, landscapes, battles and shepherd scenes.
The actual sacristy has large wooden cabinets, carved by Brother Torneiro , with paintings on small copper panels, which in turn show scenes from the life of St. Francis. Between this furniture and the ceiling there is a series of paintings on the same subject by Bartolomeu Antunes; the same applies to the coffered ceiling . In the middle of the sacristy cupboards rises a gilded altar with an ivory crucifix . There are also carved cabinets on the side walls in the same style, although their authorship is controversial. On the other wall is a stone washbasin with a statue of St. Anthony.
The Convention
The Convention still exists. It has dozens of cells and is built around a cloister with a basement and two stories above the street level. This cloister is inspired by Portuguese monasteries of the 16th century, with arcades and an arched corridor on the ground floor, and above it an open gallery-like corridor with delicate columns, exposed beams and a tiled roof. The walls are decorated with rich panels of blue and white azulejos, some of which were created by Bartolomeu de Jesus in the mid-18th century. They depict scenes and moral inscriptions that come from the book Teatro Moral da Vida Humana e de toda a Filosofia dos Antigos e Modernos and are based on engravings by Otto van Veen , a teacher of Rubens .
The entrance hall that gives access to the monastery has a ceiling painting attributed to José Joaquim da Rocha. It shows an Aula Magna of a university where the privilege of the Immaculate Conception of Mary is debated, a scene populated by various saints, prelates and allegorical figures from the four continents. There is also a carved altar and azulejos on the walls with scenes from monastery life and with images of Franciscan saints.
Other noteworthy rooms are: the library with an altar of St. Bonaventure , ceiling paintings with the Doctors of the Church and carved bookshelves; the refectory , with valuable azulejo panels from around 1650, which still come from the first church; and the chapter house . The coffered ceiling of the latter is decorated with a series of paintings depicting various martyrs, an altar of the Nossa Senhora da Saúde , painted azulejos and eight wall panels with a cycle of Mary inspired by the Lauretan litany . The iconographic source was the Elogia Mariana , published in Augsburg in 1732 , with illustrations by August Casimir Redel and Thomas Scheffler . The monastery garden also serves as a small cemetery where some important figures of the Franciscan Order are buried, including the brothers Vicente do Salvador and Antônio de Santa Maria.
The monastery today
In contrast to the splendor of the buildings, the monks who live here today lead a barren and austere life. They follow the vow of poverty and dedicate themselves to prayer and pious works. According to Hugo Fragoso , the monks' personal life was always poor. “With every Catholic reform there are attempts to bring the lifestyle back to that of Francis, and some magnificent houses are replaced by hermitages. This tension runs through the centuries…. In contrast to the Franciscans in the golden age, today's fight for the preservation of the essential ”. The furniture of the monk cells consists of a bed, a cupboard and a desk.
After 10 years of research, a first historical, social and aesthetic study of the convent and the church was published in 2009, the book Igreja e Convento de São Francisco da Bahia , which was written by historian Maria Helena Ochi Flexor together with brother Hugo Fragoso and also contains texts by other specialists.
Since the 18th century, a traditional blessing of the breads of St. Anthony ( pãezinhos de Santo Antônio ), a saint venerated by the Franciscans, has been held every Tuesday in the square in front of the church . This custom reaches its greatest popularity on the feast day of Anthony, June 13th, and the feast of St. Francis , September 17th, when more than 15,000 loaves are distributed. These festivals also attract believers from Ogun, in a syncretism with Afro-Brazilian cults.
Picture gallery
Side altar in São Francisco
Side chapels
Altar of Saint Anthony by Manuel Inácio da Costa, ca.1790
Detail of the Talha dourada: two atlases
A side altar in São Francisco
One of the pulpits
Side altar in São Francisco
Sacristy with rosewood cupboards by Brother Luis de Jesus
Ceiling of the chapter house
Vestibule to the convent with azulejos and paintings
Detail of the choir chapel in the Sao Francisco Church in Salvador
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See also
- Ouro Preto
- Santo Antônio de Jesus
- Santuário do Bom Jesus de Matosinhos in Congonhas (Minas Gerais)
literature
- Leslie Bethell: História da América Latina: América Latina Colonial. EdUSP, 1999, vol. II, p. 686 (Portuguese).
- Maria Carrazzoni (Ed.): Guia dos bens tombados. Rio de Janeiro, RJ: EXPED-Expansão Editorial, 1980, pp. 56-57, ISBN 85-208-0057-2 (Portuguese).
- Maria Helena Ochi Flexor: Igrejas e Conventos da Bahia. Série Roteiros do Patrimônio, vol. 2. Iphan / Programa Monumenta, 2001, pp. 36-69 (Portuguese).
- Maria Helena Ochi Flexor: Pedro Ferreira, to escultor baiano desconhecido. In: Varia Historia. Volume 24, No. 40. Belo Horizonte, July – December 2008 (Portuguese).
- Glauco de Oliveira Campello: O brilho da simplicidade: dois estudos sobre arquitetura religiosa no Brasil colonial . Casa da Palavra, 2001. (Portuguese)
- Carlos Ott: Guia artístico da cidade do Salvador. No. 1. Bahia, 1987 (Portuguese).
- Augusto Carlos da Silva Telles: Atlas dos monumentos históricos e artísticos do Brasil. MEC / SEAC / FENAME, 1980. (Portuguese).
Web links
- UNESCO, Historic Center of Salvador de Bahia. In: World Heritage List.
- São Francisco de Salvador on the franks-travelbox.com website , viewed September 6, 2018.
- Igreja do Convento de São Francisco - Salvador, Bahia , website of the Patrimônio Espiritual - Histórias, fotografias e significados das igrejas mais bonitas do Brasil , date: April 25, 2015 (Brazilian Portuguese).
- Arquivo Noronha Santos . IPHAN.
Individual evidence
- ↑ UNESCO, Historic Center of Salvador de Bahia. In: World Heritage List.
- ↑ Conheça as Sete Maravilhas de Origem Portuguesa no Mundo ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , ionline.pt, June 11, 2009.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Maria Helena Ochi Flexor: Igrejas e Conventos da Bahia. Série Roteiros do Patrimônio, Volume 2. Iphan / Programa Monumenta, 2001, pp. 36–69.
- ↑ a b c d e f g Carlos Ott: Guia artístico da cidade do Salvador. No. 1. Bahia, 1987.
- ↑ a b c Salvador: Cultura Todo Dia. Fundação Gregório de Matos.
- ↑ a b c d Leslie Bethell: História da América Latina: América Latina Colonial. EdUSP, 1999, Volume II, p. 686.
- ↑ a b c d Augusto Carlos da Silva Telles: Atlas dos monumentos históricos e artísticos do Brasil. MEC / SEAC / FENAME, 1980.
- ↑ a b c Arquivo Noronha Santos . IPHAN.
- ↑ a b Glauco de Oliveira Campello: O brilho da simplicidade: dois estudos sobre arquitetura religiosa no Brasil colonial . Casa da Palavra, 2001, p. 41
- ^ Leslie Bethell: História da América Latina: América Latina Colonial. EdUSP, 1999, Volume II, p. 687.
- ↑ a b c Original quote from Fragoso: « a vivência pessoal dos religiosos semper foi pobre…. A cada reforma católica, há uma tentativa de resgate da maneira de viver de Francisco de Assis , com a substitição de algumas casas suntuosas por eremitérios. A tensão é permanent ao longo dos séculos…. Ao contrário dos franciscanos do século de ouro, os de hoje lutam pelo resgate do essencial »See: Pobreza Preciosa , CERIS - Centro de Estatísticas Religiosas e Investigações Sociais / Promocat Marketing Integrado. Contact : IstoÉ Independente , nº 2098, January 22, 2010
- ↑ a b c Igreja de São Francisco - Bahia . Sampa Art
- ^ Maria Helena Ochi Flexor: Pedro Ferreira, um escultor baiano desconhecido. In: Varia Historia. Volume 24, No. 40. Belo Horizonte, July – December 2008.
- ↑ Terreiro de Jesus abriga cinco igrejas católicas. Secretaria Municipal de Comunicação de Salvador.
- ↑ a b c Bethell, pp. 687-688
- ↑ Silvana Losekann: Igreja e Convento de São Francisco tem história retratada em livro , in: Defender , 23 November 2009.
- ↑ Carlota de Sousa Gottschall (et. Al): Catálogo das Referências Culturais do Centro Histórico de Salvador ( Memento of the original from May 3, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Secretaria de Cultura do Estado da Bahia (undated and without a page number).
Coordinates: 12 ° 58 ′ 28.8 ″ S , 38 ° 30 ′ 32.6 ″ W.