TERREIRO DE JESUS

Central point of the public life of Pelourinho, the square is always very animated: small stalls held by Bahian women offering acarajés, smoothies and fresh coconut, improvised shows of capoeira to which the visitors are invited to take part, various demonstrations... A must-see place!

Officially called Praça 15 de Novembro, the imposing Terreiro de Jesus is one of Salvador's most holy places. To understand its history, you have to go back to the time of the city's construction: in the early 1550s, Governor General Tomé de Sousa granted the priests of the Jesuit Order a piece of land in the north of the new city so that they could build a chapel and a building to house the College of the Society of Jesus, which led to the place being known as Terreiro de Jesus. Small and fragile, the original church was replaced by a sumptuous building, built between 1652 and 1672, considered at the time to be the most imposing in Brazil: a mannerist façade carved from lava stone imported from Portugal, altarpieces with gilded baroque sculptures, a carved wooden ceiling and a magnificent sacristy. In 1933, when the old Sé de Salvador was destroyed, the Catedral Basílica del Terreiro de Jesus became the new cathedral of Salvador. Around the square, one can also admire the Igreja de São Pedro dos Clérigos, the Igreja de São Domingos Gusmão, or the Museu Afro-Brasileiro da UFBA, in the old medical school.