Church of Our Lady of the Rosary of the Black People, Salvador (must see)

The Church of Our Lady of the Rosary of the Black People is a Roman Catholic church along Pillory Street in Salvador. Construction on the Baroque-style church began in 1709 and took nearly 100 years.

The church was built by members of the Brotherhood of Our Lady of the Rosary of the Black Men of Pelourinho. Afro-Brazilian brotherhood, made up of both slaves and free blacks, petitioned for the church and used their learned skills and arduous labor under the direction of master craftsman Caetano Jose da Costa.

The facade of the building, designed by da Costa, was added after 1780. The frontispiece of the Church of the Rosary is highly complex. It is similar to the Parish Church of Saint Bartholomew in Maragogipe.

The church has two towers made of plain stone masonry, in contrast to the blue limestone of the facade. The towers have rectangular belfries with circular openings on four sides below the church bell windows. Each corner of the belfry has a stylized torchiere. A graveyard is accessible at the rear of the church.

The Church of Our Lady of the Rosary of the Black People was listed as a historic structure by the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage in 1938 and is part of the Historic Center of Salvador Unesco World Heritage Site.