Museu de Arte Sacra, Sacred art museum in São Luís, Brazil

The Museu de Arte Sacra is an art museum on the second floor of the Episcopal Palace at Pedro II Square, displaying sacred art from the 17th through 19th centuries. The exhibition spans multiple rooms with sculptures, gold works, liturgical garments, and ceremonial objects from the Archdiocese collection.

The museum arose following the expulsion of Jesuits in 1759, when their movable assets passed to the Portuguese crown and the building took on new roles. This collection preserved important religious artworks that might otherwise have been scattered or lost.

The collection belongs partly to the Archdiocese of São Luís and exceeds 400 pieces, mostly images of saints, goldwork and liturgical vestments from the 17th to 19th centuries in Mannerist, Baroque, Rococo and Neoclassical styles. Look for the 18th-century images of the Maranhense School of Imaginária and the hollow "santos de roca" used in Holy Week processions.

The museum occupies the second floor of the Palácio Episcopal on Praça Pedro II, so access is via the upper storey of the palace rather than a ground-level entrance. Its 13 rooms are arranged in sequence, letting visitors follow the collection room by room. The building stands in the historic centre of São Luís, within walking distance of the cathedral that holds the gilded altarpiece.

The museum holds hollow processional saint figures known as 'santos de roca', made specifically for Holy Week processions. These portable statues show a distinctive manufacturing technique rarely found elsewhere in this form.