Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida
Vast Greek-cross basilica of 1955-80, with a museum, dome walkway and a 16th-floor viewing gallery.
Work on the new basilica at Aparecida began on 11 November 1955 on the Morro das Pitas, to a design by Benedito Calixto de Jesus Neto in a stripped Romanesque Revival manner. Laid out as a Greek cross some 188 metres long and 183 metres wide, with a dome 70 metres high and a tower reaching 109 metres, it encloses about 25,000 square metres and can hold roughly 45,000 people standing. Pope John Paul II consecrated it as a basilica on 4 July 1980, and it is now the cathedral of the archdiocese of Aparecida.
The shrine grew around a small terracotta image of the Virgin recovered from the Paraíba do Sul river by fishermen in 1717, and it draws millions of visitors a year. A paid visitor circuit takes in the Museu Nossa Senhora Aparecida, founded in 1956 and since 1967 housed in the sanctuary tower, the walkway around the dome, the mosaic-covered façades and a viewing gallery on the sixteenth floor of the Torre Brasília, which looks out over the river, the Dutra highway and the town.
Highlights
- Greek-cross plan 188 metres long, holding about 45,000 people
- Museu Nossa Senhora Aparecida in the sanctuary tower
- Dome walkway and mosaic-clad façades on the visitor circuit
- Viewing gallery on the sixteenth floor of the Torre Brasília
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