RUINS OF THE IGREJA DE NOSSO SENHOR DE VERA CRUZ

It is on the outskirts of the town of Baiacu that we find this amazing symbiosis between nature and a Jesuit temple. The third oldest church in the country founded by the Jesuits in 1560, the ruins of the Igreja de Nosso Senhor de Vera Cruz have housed in their centre a gigantic tree - and more precisely a gameleira - for so long that it is impossible to know whether the tree supports the old stones or the opposite. Because of the sacred nature of the tree in the religious syncretism of the Candomblé, the place has become over time a major place of worship for the Orixás. Striking.