The Minor Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar () in Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, popularly called the Our Lady of the Pillar Mother Church (), is one of the best known Catholic buildings among those erected during the Brazilian gold rush. It is a listed monument by the National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute (IPHAN). It is located at the Monsenhor Castilho Barbosa Square.
History
The devotion to Our Lady of the Pillar was probably brought from São Paulo, in the flag of Bartolomeu Bueno, and the image was enthroned in the primitive little chapel that preceded the temple.
The present church was built around a chapel erected in 1696 (or the early years of the 18th century), and enlarged in 1712 with resources from the devotees, although the main interventions followed until the end of the century. According to records, the construction was encouraged by the governor himself.
The Parish of the Pillar was the richest and most populous in Vila Rica, since it gathered the largest number of brotherhoods and, therefore, the Mother Church received more ornaments in preparation for a "good death." The brotherhoods had specific places within the temple, a way to represent and express the social hierarchy of the faithful. The Livro de Compromissos (Book of Commitments) listed the participation of the Brotherhood of the Eucharist (1712), in addition to the ones of Our Lady of the Pillar (1712), Saint Michael and Souls (1712), Rosary of the Blacks (1715), Lord of the Steps (1715), Saint Anne (first quarter) and Our Lady of the Conception (until the first third of the 18th century).
The construction began with the nave, contrary to the custom of the time, when it was usuallystarted with the chancel. This was due to the need to preserve the primitive chapel so the masses would not be interrupted. However, this occurred between 1731 and 1733, when the chapel was finally demolished. In this period, the Eucharist was transferred to the Rosário Church. Its return to Pillar took place in a great festivity, the procession of the Eucharistic Triumph, which became famous in the history of Ouro Preto.
The decoration took another 20 years to be completed, occurring amid structural problems in the vault, which suffered from rain infiltration. Further difficulties came from the instability of one of the towers, which threatened to collapse, and in 1781 its rammed earth structure was replaced by a stonemasonry one. The same problem later afflicted one of the side walls, replaced in 1825 also by masonry. In 1848 the stone frontispiece and the other tower were completed. The current facade, built in the mid-nineteenth century, replaces the eighteenth-century one, constituting, "a kind of synthesis of the Rosário and São Francisco frontispieces, having also suffered influence from Carmo in the pediment", as pointed out by Germain Bazin.
Architectural and artistic aspects
Its design is attributed to military engineer Pedro Gomes Chaves Xavier from a 1736 polygonal layout attributed to Antônio Francisco Pombal. In IPHAN's appreciation, the layout follows the traditional Baroque model in Minas Gerais, "[...] characterized by the juxtaposition of two quadrangular forms, the first corresponding to the nave or body of the church, and the second, more elongated, to the chancel and sacristy, with the traditional consistory on the second floor. The access to the sacristy is made by side aisles topped by tribunes. The polygonal shape of the nave comes from a posthung wooden structure, with heavy struts that support the frame of the altarpieces and the tribunes, extending to the roof."
One of the peculiarities of this temple is the transposition of the entrance door, a feature used to cause "a sense of surprise and delight."