St. Anthony Cathedral, Diamantina, Metropolitan Catholic cathedral in Diamantina, Brazil.

St. Anthony Cathedral has a facade divided into three sections, with two side towers and the main portal at the centre, built in the eclectic style of the 1930s. Its design by José Wasth Rodrigues deliberately broke with the colonial and baroque look of Diamantina. The church was turned to face the square instead of Rua Direita, creating the broad largo that now forms the city's civic centre.

The first church on the site was a thatched chapel dedicated to Saint Anthony; a larger parish church was built on Rua Direita in 1750 and became a cathedral when the Diocese of Diamantina was created in 1854. Archbishop Dom Joaquim Silvério de Souza chose to demolish that Baroque church, and the foundation stone of the new one was laid in March 1932. The first Mass was celebrated at Christmas 1938, with finishing work completed under Dom Serafim Gomes Jardim.

The cathedral is dedicated to Saint Anthony, Diamantina's patron saint, and is the seat of the Archdiocese of Diamantina, created as a diocese in 1854 and raised to an archdiocese in 1917. Its side altars are eighteenth-century Baroque retables salvaged from the demolished old parish church and moved into the new building.

The cathedral is easily accessible on foot from Diamantina's central area and welcomes visitors during regular hours. Check the Mass schedule before your visit to find quiet times for exploring the interior and taking photographs.

The design is credited to José Wasth Rodrigues, a historian and draughtsman rather than an architect, who drew up the plan between 1919 and 1930. He deliberately broke with the colonial and baroque style of Diamantina, and the church was turned to face the square instead of the Rua Direita, creating the wide largo that became the city's civic centre.