Mosteiro de São Bento, Benedictine monastery in Centro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The Mosteiro de São Bento is a Benedictine abbey on the Morro de São Bento in downtown Rio de Janeiro. Its white-plastered Mannerist facade, designed by Francisco Frias de Mesquita in 1617, has a central gabled pediment topped by a cross, two square towers with arched belfries and pyramidal roofs, and three arched entrances with dark metal gates. The interior has a vaulted ceiling painted with figures in red and gold panels, spiral-carved columns, and a tiered golden altarpiece under a red canopy.
Two monks from Bahia founded the monastery in 1590, making it the second religious community to establish itself in Rio de Janeiro. Over four centuries, it remained a center of Benedictine life and shaped the city's religious landscape.
The abbey's official name, Abbey of Our Lady of Montserrat, honours the devotion of governor Francisco de Sousa, who held office when the monastery took that title in 1602; São Bento was added as patron in 1596 by order of the Portuguese Congregation. Seven side chapels belong to lay brotherhoods, among them Nossa Senhora da Conceição, São Brás and Santo Amaro. Guided tours explain the carving, images and architectural styles.
The monastery sits on the Morro de São Bento, reached by a steep climb or by the elevator from the street below. Guided tours of the church explain the carving, images and architectural styles. Visitors pass through the 19th-century iron gates into a tiled galilé before entering the nave.
The abbey church holds the tomb of Manoel de Brito and his son Diogo de Brito de Lacerda, the nobles who donated the land to the Benedictines. The sacristy keeps a canvas of the Lord of Martyrs painted around 1690 by the German monk Frei Ricardo do Pilar. The chandeliers beside the main chapel were designed and made in 1781-1783 by Mestre Valentim.
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