Mosteiro de São Bento

On your walking tour of the Olina churches, don’t miss the inside of the Mosteiro de São Bento (Rua de São Bento, tel. 81/3429-3288, 8–11:30 a.m. and 2–4 p.m. daily), for it’s on the inside that your jaw will surely drop to the floor. The main altar, covered in wood carvings and dripping with gold, is considered one of the most beautiful baroque altars in the world. Fully restored in 2001 by an American team, it was sent to New York in 2002 for an exhibit of Brazilian sacred art at the Guggenheim. Given that it stands some 14 meters tall and is more than 12 tons of wood and gold, the altar was dismantled into 52 separate pieces for shipping. It has since been restored to its original home in the São Bento church. São Bento was built in 1761 in the location of an earlier church that was first built in 1599 and again in 1654 after the Dutch Invasion. At 10 a.m. on Sundays, the Benedictine monks perform Gregorian chants during mass—worth catching, no matter what your religious bent may be.