Loving the churches

When in a foreign country I like to seek out churches because they make me feel comfortable, which is odd since religion generally doesn’t.

It is the effect of being dragged round them when I was young on family holidays – every chance they would get, my parents would enter a religious building - not to attend a service but gawp at the interior which admittedly was more often than not, beautiful. My brother and I had no choice but to sit in these large spaces and I gradually begun to appreciate the surroundings.

Ouro Preto has 23 18th Century churches in a town of only 65,000 people. Because of the colonial influence, they remind me very much of those in Europe I was taken to as a child. They provide  the best way of navigating around the town – in New York it might be the Chrysler building, in Ouro Preto it is whatever church is in which area -  should you get lost, just look up, you can recognise whatever tower is above you. It is a small town anyway so I don’t have to do this anymore but it was helpful when I first arrived – after taking time to learn which ones were which.

Churches provide a space of peace (unless you have wandered into a makeshift evangelical church which is often not so special anyway), you don’t get hassled in a church – you get to enjoy the intricate detailed art all around you without being pushed out the way (most of the time) sold anything or have your safety threatened. You also get a free or very cheap shelter from the rain and you can stay in there for as long as you like. Also the added bonus of being somewhere where you don’t speak the language, you don’t get to understand the creepy lyrics that you may

hear from any hymns playing – which for me just adds to a soothing atmosphere.

The most famous church in Ouro Preto is `igreja de Sao Francisco de Assis ‘.While not so peaceful from the amount of school kids outside, it is utterly stunning, with the ceiling reminding me somewhat of the Sistine chapel, a much small version without the 100s of tourists using flashy cameras they have been told not to.

I love the decoration – so over the top and so kitch (apart from the freaky looking dolls admittedly) – in the Pilar church down the road from Sao Francisco, Mary and baby Jesus stand at the top what looks like a massive wedding cake covered in gold and silver. Whoever designed these structures really pushed the boat out when it came to providing a house of worship for his holiness – if you can’t go crazy when building a sanctuary for the creator then when can you?

Unfortunately for us, in Brazil many of these spaces are deemed too sacred to document with cameras (tut bloody religion - I am a tourist for gods sake) so I have some pictures taken from the outside instead.