Archbishop's Palace of Salvador

Archbishop's Palace of Salvador
Palácio Arquiepiscopal de Salvador
Archbishop's Palace of Salvador
Archbishop's Palace
Location of the Archbishop's Palace of Salvador in Brazil
General information
Town or city Salvador, Bahia
Country Brazil
Coordinates 12°58′24″S 38°30′41″W / 12.973379°S 38.511337°W / -12.973379; -38.511337
Elevation 75 metres (246 ft)
Completed 1715
Owner Roman Catholic Archdiocese of São Salvador da Bahia
Designated 1938
Reference no. 122/16

The Archbishop's Palace of Salvador (Portuguese: Palácio Arquiepiscopal de Salvador, also Palácio do Arcebispado de Salvador, Palácio Arquiepiscopal da Sé) is a Roman Catholic residence in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. It is located on the Praça da Sé in the Pelourinho historical district of the city. The palace was built in the early eighteenth century and is one of the best examples of Portuguese colonial-period civil architecture in Brazil. The Archbishop's Palace was listed as a historic structure by the National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute in 1938. IPHAN transferred ownership of the palace to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of São Salvador da Bahia in 2011. The palace sits within the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Historic Center of Salvador.[1][2]

History

The Archbishop's Palace dates to the early 18th century, when a royal charter authorized the construction of a residence for the archbishop in the Terreiro de Jesus. The Queen Regent authorized the construction of the building on March 13, 1705. A site adjacent to the Sé Cathedral was chosen in 1707 on the site of a hermitage of the Brotherhood of Saint Peter of the Clergy. The building was completed in 1715. The palace fell into disrepair and disuse in the 20th century after the demolition of the former Sé Cathedral. The National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute (IPHAN) took ownership of the building in 1938.[3][4][1]

Ownership of the palace was passed to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of São Salvador da Bahia in March 2011, which then negotiated with the National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute on the future use of the structure. The palace has been adapted to house the Center of Reference of the History of the Catholic Church in Brazil (Centro de Referência da História da Igreja Católica no Brasi) that will have a conservation laboratory to restore images and documents in the archives of the Archdiocese of Salvador, a worship space, an office for the Archbishop, a library, and a conference room. Corridors of the restored building will be in glass so that visitors can view activities in the conservation laboratory.[5]

Structure

The art historian German Bazin described the palace as a "great cube of masonry decorated with an elegant door."[3] The structure consists of three stories at street level above a basement. It has a main façade with three floors. The entrance is marked by a portal in Lioz stone decorated with a coat of arms flanked by stylized scrolls. The coat of arms is that of Sebastião Monteiro da Vide, archbishop of Salvador at the time of the construction of the building. Its façade is characterized by a pediment above the main entrance in the Baroque style. The windows of the first two floors are relatively simple and those on the third floor higher and flanked by balconies and iron grille. The interior is arranged around a central courtyard.[4][2]

Demolition of the Sé Cathedral altered the appearance of the palace. It exposed raised walkways between the two buildings and the broad, lateral façade of the palace. The site of the demolished church, next to the palace, is now a square.[3][1][2]

Protected status

The Archbishop's Palace was listed as a historic structure by the National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute (IPHAN) on June 17, 1938. IPHAN took ownership of the palace in the same year.[4][2]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Palácio Arquiepiscopal (Salvador, BA)". Brasília: Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional. Retrieved 2017-04-13.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Flores, Noemi (2014-05-28). "Palácio Arquiepiscopal será restaurado". Tribuna da Bahia (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2017-04-13.
  3. 1 2 3 Bazin, Germain (1956). L'architecture religieuse baroque au Brésil (in French). 2. Sao Paulo: Museu de Arte. p. 28.
  4. 1 2 3 "Catálogo ID: 32157" (in Portuguese). Brasília, Brazil: Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics). 2016. Retrieved 2017-03-28.
  5. ↑ "Dom Murilo Krieger concedeu coletiva de imprensa sobre Palácio Arquiepiscopal". Notícias (in Portuguese). Salvador, Bahia: Arquidiocese de São Salvador da Bahia. 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2017-04-13.
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