| São Paulo - Churches - Se Cathedral |
Those who admire the Sé Cathedral (Catedral da Sé) in the downtown of São
Paulo today, can hardly believe that it is the same degrated and abandoned churhc of the end of the decade of the 90's. After remaining
closed for almost four years, between 1999 and 2003, one of the oldest symbols of the city is totaly restored and started to attract an
enormous number of tourists.
It may sound queer, but the Sé Cathedral which was the fiest church built
in the city and is more than 400 years old, was only ready after the last restoration. This is because it was always in a constant process
of changing and went through several reforms.
The first version of the church that is today the Catedral Metropolitana de
São Paulo, began to be built in 1591. In the middle of the 18th Century, two small temples were built next to the main church
that remained intact until 1911, when they were demolished to give space for the actual Praça da Sé.
The construction of the Catedral da Sé with its present gothic architecture
began in 1913 in order to substitute the small main church of the city that had been built exactly in the same place. After all, São Paulo
was growing and needed a church in the proper size of the city.
The construction dragged on for decades and the cathedral was only
inaugurated in 1954, still unfinished: 14 towers that were designed in original plant hadn't been built. Besides the lack of funds
to build the towers, another fact that contributed to the inauguration of the church before the end of the construction was the
commemoration of the 400th aniversary of São Paulo. Finally in 1999, the church went through a deserved reform and finally,
the construction was completed.
The Catedral da Sé is considered to be one of the 5 largest gothic temples
in the world. The height of the church is equivalent to the size of a 20 floor building and a capacity to city 8 thousand people. More
than 50 stained glass windows let the natural light to enter the cathedral which has its finishing done in a rare marble.
However, it is not only by the splendor of the building that the tourists
visit the cathedral. Unusual pieces and other curiosities are also very interesting. The largest organ in Brazil for example, is in the
Catedral da Sé. It was built in the 50's, has 5 manual keyboards, 329 commands, 120 registers and 12 thousand tubes. The mouths are in
gothic style and present hand carved details.
The church bells are also a show on their own. Daily, it's possible to hear
the sound coming from the left tower of the church where there is a chimes made up by 61 bronze bells, 35 of the electronically controlled.
In the crypt of the Catedral da Sé you will find the tombs of various famous people of the brazilian history, for example, Regente Feijó
and the indian Tibiriçá besides a christ of the 18th Century, carved in wood and sacred works of art done by various artists.
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