Igreja Matriz de São Domingos, Catholic church in Torres, Brazil

Igreja Matriz de São Domingos stands on the west flank of Morro do Farol at Praia do Meio, not on a plaza. Its single nave has tall pointed-arch windows, and the bell tower attached on the left bears a 1898 inscription naming Father José Lamônaco Vica, an Italian naturalized Brazilian who paid for it. The façade has one central depressed arch door flanked by two blind round arches with relief crosses, three upper windows and a curved-gable pediment with a round oculus.

Bishop José Caetano da Silva Coutinho authorized a chapel on 4 October 1815, and Ensign Manoel Ferreira Porto had the church built on Morro do Farol; it opened on 25 October 1824. It became a curate chapel in 1826 and a parish in 1837. The building was enlarged in 1857–58, and the bell tower was added in 1898.

The parish took on civil duties early on: it hosted elections for the Santo Antônio da Patrulha council and justices of the peace, and kept birth, baptism, marriage and death records. After 1850 it also handled property registration under the land law and compiled population statistics.

The church stands on the west flank of Morro do Farol, at Praia do Meio, reached by a short climb from the beach rather than from a central square. The building was closed after part of its annex collapsed, so check locally whether the interior can be visited before setting out.

The interior lost much of its original fabric in a 2010–2017 restoration supervised by IPHAE, the state body that listed the church in 1983. The decorated hydraulic tile floor, the main altarpiece, the carved pews and the spiral choir stair were removed and replaced with modern elements, and all the statues were repainted.