A Roman altar in the bay of Guajara: An iconological programme and Catholic reform in the Cathedral of Belem do Para (1867-1892)

This article analyses the role of sacred and religious art in Amazonia in the context of the catholic renovation movement of the 19th century, known as Catholic Reform. For that, it takes the order of the main altar of Our Lady of Belem by Para's Bishop Antonio de Macedo Costa (1830-1891) to Italian architect Luca Carimini (1830-1890) as its study object. This piece, along with others made throughout the period of Pio IX's pontificate, constitutes an iconological programme as well as an artistic and sacred narrative body, which testify to the pedagogical and political debates on the history of Roman Catholicism in Brazil in the 19th century. Besides that, it moves artists that acted under the patronage of Pope Pius IX in Latin American cities such as Santiago, in Chile, and Belem do Para, in Brazil, putting in evidence the artistic, intellectual and religious connections between the Vatican and South America, as part of an international renewal movement of Catholicism.