Rio De Janeiro · Brazil · Self-guided audio tour
Convent of Santo Antônio
A guide to Convent of Santo Antônio in Rio De Janeiro, focusing on its stories and important features.
- Stops
- 11
- App languages
- 30+
- Offline
- Yes
- Updated
- October 2026
Stop 1 of 11 · free to read
Access Ramp and Outer TerraceThe Surviving Acropolis
The hill that survived a vanishing act
If you look out over the city from this terrace, you are standing on something that almost ceased to exist.
In the middle of the twentieth century, the hill under our feet, the Morro de Santo Antônio, was considered an obstacle by city planners. Rio was growing fast, traffic needed avenues, and the waterfront needed land. So the engineers brought in high-pressure water cannons. In the 1950s and 1960s, they literally washed the rest of this mountain away, blasting its earth into Guanabara Bay to create the grounds of Flamengo Park.
The only reason this rock pillar survived was the Franciscan complex sitting right on top of it. Demolishing the historic church was politically impossible, so the machinery simply carved away everything around it, leaving the convent perched on an artificial island of stone.
Keep reading
Directly below us is Largo da Carioca. It is hard to imagine now amid the subway commuters and office towers, but when the first friars arrived here at the end of the sixteenth century, that plaza was a fetid, stagnant lagoon. In 1679, the friars grew tired of the mosquitoes and the stench and decided to solve the drainage problem themselves. They dug a deep trench through the mud to carry the water out toward the sea. That monastery drainage ditch eventually became Rua Uruguaiana, one of Rio's busiest commercial streets.
It is a strange feeling to stand up here. The city leveled an entire mountain to reinvent itself, yet the friars' perch stayed put, looking down on the streets they helped carve out of the swamp.
The route
11 stops, one story
A guide to Convent of Santo Antônio in Rio De Janeiro, focusing on its stories and important features.
- 1
Access Ramp and Outer Terrace
The Surviving Acropolis
The hill that survived a vanishing act
Read it above ↑ - 2
Oratory of Santo Antônio do Relento
The Soldier Saint
A terracotta officer on the military payroll
- 3
Facade and Portico
The 1608 Franciscan Portal
Ballast stone and twentieth-century nostalgia
- 4
Nave of Santo Antônio
Preachers and Pavement Crypts
Where the city gathered to listen and be buried
- 5
The High Altar
Solomonic Gold and Hagiographic Canvases
Twisted vines and sixteen scenes of wonder
- 6
Chapel of Frei Fabiano de Cristo
The Infirmary Saint
Forty years of medicine, herbs, and devotion
- 7
The Franciscan Cloister
Sanctuary of Silence
Stone arcades above the trading floor
- 8
The Sacristy
Jacaranda Carvings and Monastic Art
Dark rosewood and ceremonial preparations
- 9
Cell of Frei Sampaio
Cradle of Brazilian Independence
Where a cloistered monk defied an empire
- 10
The Imperial Catacombs and Mausoleum
Tombs of the Braganças
The quiet resting place of royal grief
- 11
Igreja da Ordem Terceira da Penitência
The Golden Masterpiece
When Franciscan humility surrendered to pure gold
Hear all 11 stops in the app
The app plays every stop, shows where you are on the map and answers your questions on the way. Free to start your first tour.
Keep exploring
More guides in Rio De Janeiro
FAQ
Questions about this guide
Where does the Convent of Santo Antônio audio guide start?
At Access Ramp and Outer Terrace, in Rio De Janeiro. From there the app takes you from stop to stop with GPS.
How many stops are there?
11 stops: Access Ramp and Outer Terrace, Oratory of Santo Antônio do Relento, Facade and Portico and 8 more. The first one is free to read on this page.
Does it work offline?
Yes. Download the guide and its audio over Wi-Fi, then use it outdoors with GPS without spending mobile data.
Is it free?
The GuideSofia app is free to download, and it's free to start your first tour.
Which language is it in?
This page is in en-US. In the app, the guide is narrated in 30+ languages.
Can I ask the guide questions?
Yes. Open the chat in the app and ask about what you are looking at, local history, food or nearby places.
Take Convent of Santo Antônio in your pocket
Download GuideSofia, open this guide and start walking. It's free to start your first tour.