São Bento Monastery

In front of you stands one of Rio's most austere façades and, behind it, one of the richest interiors in Brazil. That contrast is exactly what the Benedictine monks intended.

1A hill given away

It all began in 1586, when Manoel de Brito and his son Diogo de Brito de Lacerda gave the Benedictines a large plot of land that included this hill. The plans were drawn in 1617 by the military engineer Francisco Frias de Mesquita, in the plain Mannerist style known in Portugal as «chã». Work on the church started in 1633 and was finished around 1671; the cloister was not completed until 1755. The stone came from Morro da Viúva, in today's Flamengo, and the heavy labour was done by enslaved people.

2Gold on wood

If you go inside, you'll find walls covered in gilded woodcarving, from late seventeenth-century Baroque to eighteenth-century Rococo. The statues of Saint Benedict and Saint Scholastica are by the Portuguese monk Domingos da Conceição, and the lamp stands beside the high altar were designed by Mestre Valentim between 1781 and 1783. The paintings in the chancel are by the German monk Ricardo do Pilar.

Monks still live here, and the Sunday Mass with Gregorian chant is one of downtown Rio's best-loved traditions.

Next door, the Colégio de São Bento, open since 1858, educated Pixinguinha, Noel Rosa and Villa-Lobos.

3What to look for

• The two towers with pyramid spires, a hallmark of Portuguese Mannerism.
• The three entrance arches and the porch with its nineteenth-century iron gates.
• The view from the forecourt over Guanabara Bay and the port.