Igreja de São Francisco

Igreja de São Francisco Review

One of the most impressive churches in Salvador, the Church of St. Francis was built in the 18th century on the site of an earlier church that was burned down during the Dutch invasion in early 1600s. The ceiling was painted in 1774 by José Joaquim da Rocha, who founded Brazil's first art school. The ornate cedar-and-rosewood interior is covered with images of mermaids and other fanciful creatures bathed in gold leaf. Guides say that there's as much as a ton of gold here, but restoration experts maintain there's much less. At the end of Sunday morning mass, the lights are switched off so you can catch the wondrous subtlety of the gold leaf under natural light.

Convento de São Francisco. The Convento de São Francisco, part of the church complex, has an impressive series of 37 white-and-blue tile panels lining the walls of the cloister, each with a scene from Greco-Roman mythology. 071/3322-6430.

Ordem Terceira de São Francisco. The Ordem Terceira de São Francisco, on the north side of the complex, has an 18th-century Spanish plateresque sandstone facade—the only one in Brazil—that is carved to resemble Spanish silver altars made by beating the metal into wooden molds. 071/3321-6968.