The Church of Our Lord of Bonfim () is the most famous of the Catholic churches of Salvador, in the State of Bahia, Brazil. It was built in the 18th century on the only line of hills in the Itapagipe Peninsula, in the lower town of Salvador. The church is the subject of intense religious devotion by the people of Salvador and is the site of a famous celebration held every year in January, the Festa do Senhor do Bonfim. The church is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bonfim. The church is noted for the Festa do Bonfim ("Feast of Bonfim"), held annually the second Thursday after Three Kings Day. The festival combines elements of both Catholicism and Candomblé. It was listed as a historic structure by the National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute in 1938.
History
The veneration of Nosso Senhor do Bonfim (Our Lord of the Good End, represented by the crucified Jesus in the moment of his death) is an old tradition in Portugal that was brought to Brazil during colonial times. In 1740, while pursuing a vow, Captain Teodósio Rodrigues de Faria of the Portuguese Navy brought a statue of Nosso Senhor do Bonfim from Setúbal, Portugal, to Salvador. Some years later a religious brotherhood (irmandade) dedicated to Our Lord of Bonfim was founded and a church to house the statue—the current Church of Nosso Senhor do Bonfim—began being built on top of Montserrat hill, in the Itapagipe Peninsula, in the lower town of Salvador. The church sits on the only line of hills on the Itapagipe Peninsula on an elevation now called the Colina Sagrada ("Holy Mount"). Construction on the church began in 1740 and it was inaugurated in 1754. The towers were finished around 1772.
In the 19th century, the Bonfim Brotherhood built houses in the square in front of the church to house the pilgrims (romeiros) that come to Salvador every year to honour Our Lord of Bonfim.
Structure
The Church of Nosso Senhor do Bonfim is constructed of brick and stone masonry. The façade of the church is two-dimensional, with a central body flanked by two towers. The windows and elaborate volutes of the gable of the pediment of the façade are in the Rococo style. The lower parts of the façade were covered by industrial Portuguese azulejo tiles in 1873. They are white with a yellow tint and were designed to resemble those of the Church of Saint Francis in the Historic Center of Salvador. The church has two bell towers; they were crowned with bulbous roofs at the end of the 19th century.
Interior
The interior decoration of the church was finished in the 19th century, and consists of a rich archive of painting, azulejos, gilded woodcarvings, and furniture. The nave has a single aisle. The church has six side altars; two on each of the lateral walls and two at the front of the nave. The Neoclassical main altarpiece, which has the form of a baldachin with a cupola sustained by volutes, was carved by the master sculptor Antônio Joaquim dos Santos between 1813 and 1814; he is likely also responsible for its design. The side altars have paintings by José Teófilo de Jesus (ca. 1758–1847) at center in place of the gilded wooden images of saints found in other churches of Bahia. The interior of the church has a great number of azulejos. There are 28 large-scale azulejo panels on the lateral walls of the church depicting the life of Christ. They were painted by Tomáz do Carmo in Lisbon in 1855. Similar panels of azulejos were ordered from Portugal in the same decade to decorate the sacristy, but were never installed. The nave and sacristy have plain azulejos. Between 1816 and 1817 Antônio de Santa Rosa carved the ceiling of the chancel, its tribunes, the chancel arch, and two side altars.
Another notable feature of the church is the wooden ceiling painted by Bahia artist Franco Velasco between 1818 and 1820, showing people thanking Our Lord of Bonfim for having survived a shipwreck. The sacristy, nave and other rooms of the church display paintings by another notable Bahia painter, José Teófilo de Jesus and were done in the 1830s.
Noted artwork
Nave ceiling, Franco Velasco
Cristo com a Adúltera (Christ with the Adultereress), José Theófilo de Jesus, sacristy A Morte do Pecador (Death of the Sinner), attributed to Bento Capinam A Morte do Justo (Death of the Just), attributed to Tito Nicolau Capinam