Terreiro de Jesus

The Terreiro de Jesus is a square of great historical and cultural importance located in the Historic Center ofSalvador , Bahia , Brazil . It is located in front of the current Basilica Cathedral . Located in the oldest part of the capital, the terreiro is limited to the Sé Square , which is also the name of the district to which it belongs. Officially, it is called Praça 15 de Novembro .

History

In the early years of the 1550s, at the time of the founding of Salvador by Governor-General Tomé de Sousa , the Jesuits received from the governor an area north of the new city, where the priests led by Manuel da Nóbrega built a first chapel of taipa and the first building of the Jesuit College of the city.  Due to the presence of the priests of the Society of Jesus , the land ahead came to be known as "Terreiro de Jesus". The building of the college of the company was completed in 1590, but earlier, in 1584 , Gabriel Soares de Sousa ( Notary of Brazil , 1587) recorded that "... it occupies this terreiro and part of the street of the band of the sea a sumptuous college of thepriests of the Society of Jesus, with a beautiful and joyful church ... " 

The first church built on the site in the sixteenth century was very small and fragile, and between 1652 and 1672, the Jesuits built a sumptuous church there, considered the most imposing church of the seventeenth century in Brazil. The Mannerist façade of the church, built with blocks of lioz stone brought from Portugal , still dominates the square. The interior is composed of magnificent altarpieces of gilded carving in Mannerist and Baroquestyles, standing out the carved wooden ceiling and the sacristy . In 1933, after the demolition of the old Cathedral of Salvador , the church of the Jesuits happened to be the new Cathedral of Salvador .

In addition to the cathedral, the terreiro houses the Convent and the Church of the Saint Francis , the Church of the Third Order of Saint Francis and the Church of the Third Order of St. Dominic and the Church of St. Peter of the Clergy. These temples, especially the first two, are the highest exponents of Brazilian colonial art . 

At the beginning of the 19th century, the building of the former College of the Jesuits was used as a hospital, and in 1808 the first medical school in Brazil was established. The colonial building was lost in a fire in 1905, being replaced by another in eclectic style with predominance of neoclassical lines. 

Source: https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terreiro_de_Jesus