[ Jan.2016 ] From Praca Maua in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, we went up the slope to get to Mosteiro de Sao Bento.
Before reaching the church, our tour leader said “It is a memorable church” and when we entered there, we understood what he meant.
It was gorgeous and gaudy, even more so than Tosho-gu shrine in Nikko in Japan.
The outside was rather simple, though.
This is a Benedictine monastery and its history goes back to 1590.
The current church was built from 1630s to 1670s.
Apparenly African slaves did the construction works.
Every Sunday if you join the Mass at 10am, you can hear the Gregorian chants by the monks.
We were too late for that unfortunately.
