Sao Paulo: Churches

Sao Paulo is primarily Catholic, although all other religions coexist without too much trouble. As a result, there are a number of beautiful churches, cathedrals, and basilicas around the city. Here are a few shots of those we visited.

This is the Basilica of Sao Bento and is part of a school and a bakery run by the monks who live here. We were there on Sunday morning and in time for mass so stepped in to hear the Gregorian chanting done by the monks. We stayed for some of the mass, but since it was standing room only and the whole thing in Portuguese, we left after about 10 minutes and wandered around the area until after mass when the bakery opened and we were allowed to take photos of the inside.

 

These give you an idea of the inside of the basilica. It wasn't that large but very ornate.

 

  

Just down the street is this small cathedral. We didn't get a chance to go inside, but here's a nice photo of the outside. The street passes right outside the doors as you can see. A lot of it was blocked off for a bike path, which is something the city does every Sunday to encourage Paulistas (residents of Sao Paulo) to bike.

The back of another cathedral we passed on our city tour taken from the car window. Sorry, didn't catch the name or go inside, but I liked the dome, which was something different from the others we had seen.

This is the inside of the church you'll see further down in the photos. Sorry, can't again remember the name (I've got to start writing things down!) but a beautiful church with stained glass windows and shrines throughout.

Gorgeous! and a really nice square in front of it as well. Such a shame that the place is overrun with the homeless. There are mattresses, cardboard boxes, laundry and dogs everywhere - it's a little homeless city just outside the cathedral. It's very sad to see.