Church of Our Lady of Protection (Santo Amaro)
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| Church of Our Lady of Protection | |
|---|---|
Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Amparo | |
 Church of Our Lady of Protection, Santo Amaro, Bahia | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Catholic |
| Rite | Roman |
| Ownership | Roman Catholic Diocese of Cruz das Almas |
| Location | |
| Municipality | Santo Amaro |
| State | Bahia |
| Country | Brazil |
  Location of the Church of Our Lady of Protection in Brazil | |
| Coordinates | 12°32′57″S 38°42′34″W / 12.54914°S 38.70931°W |
| Architecture | |
| Style | Baroque, Neo-Classical |
| Groundbreaking | 19th century |
| Specifications | |
| Direction of façade | South-East |
| Interior area | 576 square metres (6,200 ft2) |
The Church of Our Lady of Protection (Portuguese: Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Amparo) is a 19th-century Roman Catholic church located in Santo Amaro, Bahia, Brazil. The church is dedicated to Our Lady of Help and belongs to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cruz das Almas[1]. The church belongs to the Brotherhood of Our Lady of Amparo, which was generally made of mixed-race men, who often constituted the majority of the population of cities in Bahia. Our Lady of Amparo churches are also found in Valença, Bahia and São Cristóvão, Sergipe. The church, despite its construction in the 19th century, is similar to those of the previous century, with a nave, side corridors superimposed by galleries, a façade with monumental pediment, and bell towers on either side of the portals.[2][3]
The church lacks federal, state, or municipal protection, but was named as part of the Heritage of Portuguese Influence sites by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. The National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage started large-scale reform works on the church in 2018.[4][5]
The Church of Our Lady of Protection was built in the early 19th century. It replaced a simple wattle and daub structure built in 1708. Father Aires do Casal noted in his Corografia Brasílica of 1817, that it belonged to the brotherhood of mixed-race men. It was referred to as the "Capella de N.S. do Ampero", under Father Manoel Francisco de Oliveira Bahia, in the Memorias da viagem de SS magestades imperials ás provincias da Bahia, Pernambuco, Parahiba, Alagoas, Sergipe, e Espirito-Santo of 1861.[6] It was renovated, or possibly completed, in 1907 in the Neoclassical style, typical of church renovations in Bahia in the previous century. A plaque on the facade of the church dated February 2, 1907, probably commemorates the end of the reform works. The Neoclassical retable was likely installed during this renovation, replacing a simple retable of the previous century. The floors of the side corridors were repaired in 1965, and the roofing of the galleries and sacristies were replaced between 1967 and 1968.[4][2]
