EnglishAljube or Former Ecclesiastical Prison
Olinda, Pernambuco, Brazil
Equipment and Infrastructures
Given the need for an ecclesiastical prison in Pernambuco, Olinda’s Bishop Dom Francisco Xavier Aranha (1754-1771) commissioned a handsome building for that purpose in the city. Construction work began in 1764. The edifice’s upper floor contained two cells for priests, while the ground floor had two rooms used to hold common prisoners jailed for religious offences. It was already badly deteriorated by 1864, when it was converted into the city’s public jail. The well-composed architectural arrangements were strongly influenced by the northern Portuguese baroque. The edifice was built of stone and mortar and bears the bishop’s coat-of-arms on the side facing the street. It was restored by the federal government in 1966 and now houses the Contemporary Art Museum, whose collection was enriched by a donation from the journalist Assis Chateaubriand. The aljube is an uncommon building type in Brazil and was used to incarcerate condemned priests, sorcerers and witches.