The blue baroque church at the foot of the Largo do Pelourinho was built by a brotherhood of enslaved and freed Africans over almost a century, financed by the small sums they were allowed to earn for themselves. The interior is restrained by Salvador standards — pale blue walls, gilded but not gold-encrusted altars — and feels visibly different from the Jesuit and Carmelite churches uphill.
It is one of the most actively used churches in the Pelourinho; mass with samba-de-roda rhythms on Tuesday evenings. The crypt holds the brotherhood's founder members and several of the city's most important Afro-Brazilian families.