Church of Our Lady of the Conception of Comandaroba

The Church of Our Lady of the Conception of Comandaroba was one of two Jesuit properties in present-day Laranjeiras. Laranjeiras was home to indigenous people prior to the arrival of the Portuguese; the first Portuguese settlers arrived in the 16th century, and the 17th century was marked by the Dutch attacks and invasion of the region. The Jesuits initially built a retreat, the Casa do Retiro, in the late 17th century. They then purchased a house at Comandaroba and completed a church on the site in 1734; it was part of the larger Comandaroba Plantation. The house at Comandaroba may have been established by the Capuchins. The Jesuits left Laranjeiras prior to the expulsion of the Jesuits from Brazil in 1759. Colonel Felipe Pereira do Lago and his wife donated the Comandaroba Plantation to the Carmelite Order of Bahia in 1756. A parish church was established in Laranjeiras at the end of the 18th century, the Parish Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Church of Comandaroba belonged to the Carmelites until the early 19th century.[2][5][1]

The building has a structure consisting of mixed masonry of stone and brick. The church has a rectangular plan with a small nave, chancel, and two sacristies. The pulpit as has a lion, sculpted in stone, at the base of the pulpit. The sacristies and chancel are connected by entrance doors and rectangular windows with lattice screens.[2]

The Church of Our Lady of the Conception of Comandaroba was listed as a historic structure by the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage in 1941. It was listed in the Book of Historical Works no. 299. The Parish Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was also listed as a historic structure by IPHAN in the same year.[3][5]