The original see of the diocese of São Luís, the Igreja da Sé (or Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Vitória) is one of the oldest churches in the city, with origins in the earliest Portuguese colonial period. The current structure has been rebuilt and modified over the centuries, but the church remains a central landmark of the historic centre.
The interior has the layered quality of a building that has been in use for four centuries: baroque altars, 19th-century pews, and colonial-era paintings mix somewhat incongruously. But the atmosphere is one of genuine devotion rather than museum display — masses are well attended, and the church is the active spiritual heart of the neighbourhood.