The Candelária Church (in Portuguese, Igreja da Candelária or Igreja Nossa Senhora da Candelária) is the Rio de Janeiro’s first church dating from 1630. It went through a series of reforms to reach the current model, which opened in 1898.
It was built on the site of a chapel founded in 1610 by Antônio de Palmas and his wife in gratitude for having survived a shipwreck; paintings in the present dome tell his tale.The original design remains only on its beautiful stone facade with a limestone dome. The neoclassical interior is all covered in marble and features vivid color stained glass, stunning paintings that are distributed through the roof of the aisles and dome, and doors richly worked in cast bronze.
