IGREJA NOSSA SENHORA DO CARMO

Built in 1814, it was considered by the locals to be the most beautiful church in the city, until a fire in January 1999, during building work, caused it to lose its finest features, including a superb painting by Mestre Ataíde. The Nossa Senhora do Carmo church is located on the former Pelourinho square in Mariana (MG), now the Minas Gerais square. Next door is the church of São Francisco de Assis, a rare proximity in the history of religious buildings. In the square, one of the last piloris still stands, a stone column used to punish slaves in colonial times.
This is undoubtedly one of the last fine examples of rococo in Minas Gerais. The building's façade is said to be a "simplified interpretation" of the church of São Francisco de Assis, built by the architect and sculptor Aleijadinho, in Ouro Preto (his finest architectural work).
The church is rectangular in plan, with the sacristy and consistory on either side. Round masonry towers, with stone bells, retract behind a straight facade. The door is framed by a medallion bearing the emblems of the Carmelite order.
Inside, just inside the entrance, there is a large windbreak (a kind of wooden screen placed in front of the doors to protect the environment). The ceiling features an ornamental painting depicting Our Lady of Mount Carmel surrounded by angels and clouds, handing over a scapular. The main altar features an image of the patron saint on the main throne.
Established in Mariana since 1751, the brotherhood of the Third Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel originally met in the chapel of São Gonçalo. In 1759, construction began on a provisional chapel, a simple structure with only a central tower on the façade, which was practically completed the following year. Construction of the definitive temple began in 1784, with a project by Félix Antônio Lisboa, half-brother of Aleijadinho, the leading artist of the Brazilian colonial period.
The fire of 1999 destroyed the painting on the nave ceiling, the pulpits, the wooden floor, the side altars and the roof. The church then underwent a lengthy and costly restoration to its former glory. The roof, cladding and floor were restored, and new cladding took the place of the original. Images and altars were restored.