The Basilica of Our Lady of Lourdes (), also known as the Basilica of Belo Horizonte, is a

Catholic church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

built in a predominantly

neo-Gothic style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

, which is located in

Belo Horizonte Belo Horizonte is the List of largest cities in Brazil, sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population of around 2.3 million, and the third largest metropolitan area, containing a population of 6 million. It is the List of cities in Sout ...

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 ...

. Its construction was completed around 1923. The author of the project was Manoel Tunes, and the works were made by Antonio Gonçalves Gravatá. In 1958 he was elevated to Basilica by decision of

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...

. The Church has three naves and has a length of 47 meters in length and 17 in width. In the interior there are three images of the Virgin Mary in her invocation of

Our Lady of Lourdes Our Lady of Lourdes (; ) is one the Marian devotions, devotional names or titles under which the Catholic Church venerates the Mary, mother of Jesus, Virgin Mary. The name commemorates a series of Lourdes apparitions, 18 apparitions reported by ...

, A wooden one, usually used in processions and coronations; A sculpted one in plaster, more than 100 years old, that is in the Grotto of Lourdes and another on the altar, which was brought from Rio de Janeiro on the occasion of the consecration of the church to the status of basilica, an act formally made in 1958.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Our Lady of Lourdes, Church Basilica churches in Brazil Roman Catholic churches in Belo Horizonte Roman Catholic churches completed in 1923 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Brazil

See also

References