Our Lady of Grace Cathedral, Catholic cathedral in Cidade Velha, Belém, Brazil

Our Lady of Grace Cathedral is a Baroque church in the Cidade Velha district of Belém. Its white facade has two tall towers with tiered cupolas and a round clock on the right tower, a lower central section with a curved pediment, and three arched entrance portals. Inside, a barrel-vaulted nave with painted medallions is flanked by side aisles, dark wood balconies, and a gilded altarpiece.

The first chapel, built inside the Forte do Presépio in 1616, was moved a few years later to the Largo da Sé. In 1719 the Diocese of Maranhão was divided and the church became a cathedral seat. Work on the present building began in 1748; from 1755 the Bolognese architect Antônio José Landi completed the upper facade, adding the two towers and the pediment. Construction finished in 1782, and IPHAN listed the cathedral in 1940.

The cathedral holds a central place during the Círio de Nazaré festival, when the statue of Our Lady of Nazareth arrives here before the main procession winds through the streets. Thousands of worshippers gather inside and around the building to observe this religious celebration.

The building sits in the historic city center near the Forte do Presépio fortress and the Episcopal Palace, making it easy to reach on foot. Visitors can attend daily masses and should note that the interior tends to be more crowded on weekends.

The 1882 Cavaillé-Coll organ is the largest instrument from that French workshop in Brazil and second in Latin America only to the 1912 organ of Buenos Aires. Its predecessor was already failing in 1873, when organist Adolfo Kaulfuss reported torn bellows, over a hundred missing pipes and a keyboard stripped of its ivory.