Igreja Nossa Senhora do Rosário, Porto Alegre

Nossa Senhora do Rosário Church, better known as Rosário Church, is a Catholic church located in the historic center of the city of Porto Alegre, capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. It is a listed building by the Institute for National Historic and Artistic Heritage, along with its collection.

The devotion to the rosary was formerly one of the means chosen by the Catholic clergy to teach religion to slaves. In Porto Alegre, this devotion gave origin to the foundation of the Irmandade de Nossa Senhora do Rosário next to the old Matriz, composed basically of slaves and black men. Deciding to build their own headquarters, the land at Rua Vigário José Inácio 402 was chosen for the construction of the first church, which had its cornerstone laid on October 3, 1817 by the Vicar General Antônio Vieira da Soledade. On December 25, 1827 a farewell service was held at the Matriz, and then proceeded to transfer the image, which was honored with a solemn feast the next day already in its new home.

However, the temple was still officially a curated chapel, and the decree of its elevation to parochial seat came on October 24th, 1832, but it was only installed in 1844, having as its first pastor Father Inácio Soares Viana, sworn in on October 6th, 1844. During the XIX century it was the most extensive and populous parish in the city, also attracting the white population and European immigrants, and from its dismemberment were born the Carmel Nossa Senhora do Carmo and the current parishes of Menino Deus, Conceição, Bom Fim, São João and Navegantes, among others.

In 1951, with the authorization of President Getúlio Vargas, the old church was demolished, alleging its small dimensions for an ever-growing congregation, and its poor state of conservation. However this disappearance represented one of the most regrettable architectural and historical losses for the city, since the old temple until the 1950s still presented its original profile, of beautiful and pure baroque lines. Athos Damasceno Ferreira wrote about the old temple in the following terms: "Porte had, no doubt, the Rosário Church, of stature not inferior to that of the Matriz, which, if more than it showed, this was due to the circumstance of having been erected in an elevated place, while the other rose in a narrow and shallow street, which did not favor its view or appearance. What a pity! Because it well deserved to be contemplated - with its twelve meters high, its two square towers, its central body with three doors in the lower part and three large windows in the upper part, its bell tower with six bells and, above, the curved pediment, and, below, the slabbed churchyard, garnished with masonry pillars and iron railings. Its interior, despite the limited resources of the Brotherhood, also deserved to be seen and admired. Besides the main altar, there were four other side altars, two of them with marble sides, occupying the angles formed by the walls of the nave and those of the cross. Seventeen images were enthroned there, some of them valuable pieces of Portuguese torêutica, such as Nossa Senhora do Rosário, which belonged to the Matriz".