Basilica of Nazare

The basilica was built between 1909 and 1926 on the model of the church of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, with imported marble, mosaic and stained glass paid for largely by rubber money, and it holds a small image of Our Lady of Nazareth said to have been found by a settler in the eighteenth century. What matters here is the fortnight in October: the Cirio de Nazare brings something in the order of two million people onto the streets of Belem behind the image, with the rope that pilgrims grip along the route becoming the central object of devotion, and the procession was inscribed on UNESCO's intangible heritage list in 2013. Outside that period the basilica is quiet, and a museum below it explains the festival.

History

The basilica stands where, by tradition, Plácido José de Souza found the image of the Virgin of Nazareth on the banks of the Murututu stream, a story told in several versions. Gino Coppedè designed the present building in 1909 for the Barnabite fathers of Genoa, as a basilica modelled on Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome; he left out steeples, but two bell towers were added anyway after the city argued that every church in the Portuguese-speaking world should have them. Archbishop Santino Maria Coutinho laid the cornerstone on 24 October 1909, Pope Pius XI declared the church a basilica on 19 July 1923, and the image was crowned on 15 August 1953. The building was listed as historic heritage in 1992, and in 2006 Pope Benedict XVI made it the archdiocese's Marian sanctuary (Wikipedia, Basilica of Our Lady of Nazareth of Exile).

What's there

• A Roman model - built 1909 to 1926 after Saint Paul Outside the Walls.
• The Cirio image - the small statue carried at the centre of the procession.
• The rope - the object pilgrims grip along the route each October.
• The Cirio museum - the festival explained below the church.

When to go

October for the Cirio, if you want the event; any time otherwise. An hour.

Before you go

During the Cirio the city is effectively full and accommodation must be booked months ahead; crowds are dense and movement is slow. Outside October the basilica is a handsome but ordinary church, and the museum carries most of the interest.

Nearby

The Cidade Velha and Ver-o-Peso are toward the waterfront; the Mangal das Garcas is south.

Key facts