Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, Baroque church in Ouro Preto, Brazil

The Church of Our Lady of the Rosary is a baroque building in Ouro Preto with an oval-shaped interior and elliptical floor plan contained within stone walls. Six side altars divide the nave, creating distinct zones throughout the sacred space.

A brotherhood established this church in 1715 as a gathering place for its community. Construction of the building itself took place later, being completed in the early 1820s.

The brotherhood that built the church was founded in 1715 by Black men of Ouro Preto, and its name recalls the rosary devotion they kept. The niches hold saints tied to Black devotion: Saint Benedict, Saint Ephigenia, patron of slaves, and the little-known Saint Anthony of Catingeró. Five wooden images were made by Manuel Dias da Silva e Sousa in 1800–1801, though the records do not name them.

The church stands on Rua Getúlio Vargas, the street the brotherhood itself opened for the Eucharistic Triumph procession. The interior is compact, with an elliptical nave ringed by aisles and a quadrangular sacristy at the far end, so a circuit takes little time. The 1930s iron railing closes the galilee at the entrance.

The elliptical plan, with aisles circling the chancel and a square sacristy at the far end, departs from the rectangular layout usual in colonial Minas Gerais churches. Experts have linked the design to Borromini's San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane and to churches in Porto and Rio de Janeiro.