São Paulo Cathedral, Catholic cathedral in Sé district, São Paulo, Brazil
The Catedral Metropolitana de São Paulo is a Gothic Revival church in the Sé district, built from granite and standing 92 meters tall. The building extends 111 meters in length and 46 meters in width, with towers rising above the surrounding area.
The foundation stone was laid in 1913, and architect Maximilian Emil Hehl led the project over several decades. Completion came in 1954, in time for the city's four-hundredth anniversary.
The cathedral is dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption and Saint Paul, and its parish dates to 1591. In the crypt beneath the main altar, marble sculptures by Francisco Leopoldo e Silva depict the stories of Job and Saint Jerome. The bronze tombs of Regent Feijó and the Guaianás chief Tibiriçá lie there, and Bartolomeu de Gusmão's remains were transferred in 2004.
The church stands in central São Paulo and welcomes visitors most days of the week. Doors stay open longer on weekdays than on Saturdays and Sundays, so a morning visit can be more practical.
The east tower holds a carillon of 61 bells cast by the Petit & Fritsen foundry of the Netherlands and installed in 1959, the largest and heaviest in Central and South America. The organ, built in 1954 by Balbiani Vegezzi-Bossi of Milan, has 12,000 pipes whose mouths carry hand-engraved Gothic reliefs.
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