Cathedral Basilica of Bom Jesus

The Cathedral Basilica of the Good Lord Jesus (Catedral Metropolitana Basílica Senhor Bom Jesus) stands on the Praça da República in the centre of Cuiabá's historic district. The building is a twin-towered Neo-Classical structure, modestly decorated but dignified in scale, and elevated on a wide forecourt from which the square can be surveyed in both directions.

The interior is more elaborate than the exterior suggests: carved altarpieces, votive offerings, and a large nave that fills with worshippers for Sunday mass. The cathedral is the seat of the Archdiocese of Cuiabá and the religious heart of the city. The Praça da República around it has been restored in recent years and is one of the better urban spaces in the city centre — the coloured-tile patterns on the square are worth looking down at as well as up.

things to do sight
A story
The cathedral's construction was completed in 1878, but the site has been a centre of Cuiabá's Catholic life since a much earlier chapel was built here in the 18th century. The Bom Jesus (Good Lord Jesus) devotion was particularly strong among the Portuguese colonisers who came to mine gold in the Cuiabá River basin — the discovery of gold here in 1719 is what put Cuiabá on the map at all.