Church and Convent of Saint Antony

Ipojuca, Pernambuco, Brazil

Religious Architecture

Founded in 1606, the Franciscan Convent of Ipojuca was abandoned during the period of Dutch rule and restored in the 1650s. It is an extremely important example of architecture, as it preserves several original features – only the chancel was replaced in the 20th century (after a fire). A number of architectural solutions were also used here which would be repeated in all of the Order’s convents in Pernambuco and their corresponding sphere of influence. These include the model used in the façade (a triple-arched galilee with three corresponding windows on the first floor topped by an unadorned triangular pediment, a single door leading to the nave (the side doors were added in the 20th century), the model used in the cloister (semicircular arches on the ground floor and a wooden ceiling supported by columns on the first floor) and a pervading sense of poverty in the overall design of the convent, evident in its almost total lack of decoration. Note that the sacristy was kept in the original location by the cloister, rather than behind the chancel like the new sacristies of many other convents in the area. The cloister seems to have survived the Dutch invasion and probably dates from the 1610s, thus making it one of the oldest remaining edifices in Brazil.

• Nuno Senos