Church of Our Lady of Mercy of the Creoles, Religious chapel in Tiradentes, Brazil.
The Church of Our Lady of Mercy of the Creoles is a religious chapel with a symmetrical facade, a single entrance, and large arched windows. Its interior features a Rococo-style main altar with gilded and polychrome carvings, and the ceiling displays coffered panels depicting scenes from the Virgin's Litany.
The Brotherhood of Our Lady of Mercy of the Black Creoles was founded on 14 December 1756; its chapel is first documented after 1800 and was certainly in use by 1807, when it received the Procession of the Steps. The ceiling paintings by Manoel Victor de Jesus were completed around 1821, and the pulpits date from about 1824. IPHAN restored the chapel in 1960–1961, rebuilding the collapsed pediment.
The brotherhood was founded on 14 December 1756 as the Irmandade de Nossa Senhora das Mercês dos Pretos Crioulos, a confraternity of Black creoles. Its members commissioned the Rococo main altar, gilded and polychromed by Manoel Victor de Jesus, and a brotherhood flag. The painted ceiling of the nave shows Our Lady of Mercy with open arms among clouds and angels.
The single, unornamented door with a flattened-arch lintel sits at the centre of the wide facade; the right-hand side volume holds a slit window beneath the upper window, serving as the bell tower. The adro, the forecourt, was only finished in the 20th century. The original floor laid between 1821 and 1823 was replaced in 1969.
The nave sides feature illusionistic parapets painted with saints and angels that create an optical illusion of depth. This clever technique makes the chapel appear larger and more open than its actual physical dimensions.
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