Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar, Catholic cathedral in São João del-Rei, Brazil.

The Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar is a baroque church built between 1721 and 1750, featuring ornately decorated interiors with gold embellishments, multiple altars, and religious artwork. Construction materials were imported from Portugal, reflecting the prosperity of the regional mining economy.

A previous chapel on the site was destroyed in 1709 during the Emboabas War, prompting construction of this larger sanctuary to begin. The building project took three decades to complete, representing the community's recovery and growth following a period of conflict.

The Brotherhood of the Blessed Sacrament, founded in 1711 and restricted to the town's wealthier white men, built the church and long kept it as its seat; the Brotherhood of Saint Michael and Souls, of the Lord of the Steps and of Our Lady of the Good Death also remain based here. The parish still administers the churches of Carmo, Rosário and Mercês, the Chapel of Saint Anthony and the Hospital Nossa Senhora das Mercês.

The church stands on a raised stone forecourt reached by a staircase, enclosed by an iron railing and stone pillars; the five ground-level doors open onto this adro. The nave is a single aisle with side altars, a choir over the entrance and a deep chancel behind a monumental arch. The parish also administers the churches of Carmo, Rosário and Mercês, the Capela de Santo Antônio and the Hospital Nossa Senhora das Mercês.

A stone pillar inaugurated on 12 January 1967 on Morro da Forca marks where the first straw-covered mud chapel stood from 1703 to 1704, burned in 1709 during the Emboabas War. The devotion to Our Lady of the Pillar began at that hilltop site, not in the present church.