The Archbishop's Palace of Salvador (, also ''Palácio do Arcebispado de Salvador'', ''Palácio Arquiepiscopal da Sé'') is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

residence in Salvador,

Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. It is located on the Praça da Sé in the Pelourinho historical district of the city. The palace was built in the early eighteenth century and is one of the best examples of Portuguese colonial-period civil architecture in Brazil. The Archbishop's Palace was listed as a historic structure by the National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute in 1938. IPHAN transferred ownership of the palace to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of São Salvador da Bahia in 2011. The palace sits within the

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of the Historic Center of Salvador. Part of the structure was converted into a cultural center, the Cultural Center of the Palácio da Sé, which opened in 2020.

History

Archiepiscopal Palace in Salvador Portal 2018-0177

The Archbishop's Palace dates to the early 18th century, when a royal charter authorized the construction of a residence for the archbishop in the

Terreiro de Jesus The Terreiro de Jesus is a plaza located in the Historic Center (Salvador), Historic Center of Salvador de Bahia in Brazil. The square is located in the oldest part of the city and abuts the Praça da Sé. The Cathedral Basilica of Salvador, form ...

. Sebastião Monteiro da Vide (1643-1722) arrived in Bahia on May 22, 1702, and held the office of archbishop until his death. His petition for the construction of a residence was authorized by the Queen Regent on March 13, 1705. A site adjacent to the Sé Cathedral was chosen in 1707 on the site of a hermitage of the Brotherhood of Saint Peter of the Clergy. The building was completed in 1715. The palace fell into disrepair and disuse in the 20th century after the demolition of the former Sé Cathedral. The National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute (IPHAN) took ownership of the building in 1938. Ownership of the palace was passed to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of São Salvador da Bahia in March 2011, which then negotiated with the National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute on the future use of the structure.

Structure

The art historian Germain Bazin described the palace as a "great cube of masonry decorated with an elegant door." The structure consists of three stories at street level above a

basement A basement is any Storey, floor of a building that is not above the grade plane. Especially in residential buildings, it often is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the Furnace (house heating), furnace, water heating, ...

. It has a main

façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...

with three floors. The entrance is marked by a portal in Lioz stone decorated with a

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

flanked by stylized scrolls. The coat of arms is that of Sebastião Monteiro da Vide, archbishop of Salvador at the time of the construction of the building. The façade of the palace has an elaborate Baroque-style portal of Portuguese marble with an elaborate

pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...

. It has at its center the coat of arms of Dom Sebastião Monteiro da Vide with volutes at the left and right. The windows of the first two floors are relatively simple and those on the third floor higher and flanked by balconies and iron grille balconets. Demolition of the Sé Cathedral altered the appearance of the palace. It exposed raised walkways between the two buildings and the broad, lateral façade of the palace. The site of the demolished church, next to the palace, is now a square, the Praça da Sé.

Interior courtyard

The interior of the palace is arranged around a central courtyard, or patio, a late example of those found in Italian ''palazzi''. The courtyard provided both light and air to the interior of the building. Similar examples in Bahia can be found in Solar Berquó, Solar Boa Vista, Casa Régia, and the House of the Seven Deaths; and the plantation houses of Freguesia and Matoim, the latter now demolished.

Cultural Center of the Palácio da Sé

The Cultural Center of the Palácio da Sé () has a permanent exhibit on the first floor called "The Church and the Formation of Brazil" (), which consists of historical artifacts owned by the Archdiocese of São Salvador. Remnants of the former Sé Cathedral form an important part of the collection. The first floor of the building also houses the Reitor Eugênio Veiga Conservation and Restaurantion Laboratory. The second floor of the cultural center has additional artifacts owned by the Archdiocese. The cultural center occupies only part of the building; the remainder is retained by the Archdiocese for administrative and religious use.

Protected status

The Archbishop's Palace was listed as a historic structure by the National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute (IPHAN) on June 17, 1938. IPHAN took ownership of the palace in the same year.

References