English
Church of Our Lady of the Rosary of the Black People
Olinda, Pernambuco, Brazil
Religious Architecture
ll signs seem to indicate that Olinda’s urban organisation included some areas occupied by poorer residents: black people, mulattoes and mixed-race pardos. These were situated along a pathway from Amparo to the Monte, in the area known as Bom Sucesso. Before 1630, a church pertaining to the Brotherhood of Our Lady of the Rosary stood in this part of town, where coloured residents worshipped. It was the starting point of a procession instituted by the Negro Henrique Dias, a military commander during Pernambuco’s restoration wars between 1645 and 1654. The church was damaged by fire and must have been significantly restored after 1654. The crossing arch profiles and other ashlar elements indicate a late 17th-century project. The church’s plan comprises the usual nave, chancel and side aisles. It also has the three-arched portico typical of Olinda’s Franciscan buildings. Paintings imitating carving work were found during a restoration inside. The building dominates the surroundings from its site halfway up a slope. Of major interest in the church are the Africans’ sculpted devotional saints, a group of images following its own iconographic rules. The imagemakers are unknown.