Igreja de São Roque | Church of Sao Roque | Lisbon, Portugal 2023 #churches #church #religion

The Church of Saint Roch, also known as Igreja de So Roque, is a Roman Catholic church in Lisbon, Portugal. One of the first Jesuit churches ever built, it was also the oldest in the Portuguese-speaking world. Before the Jesuits were expelled from Portugal, the building housed the Society's home church for more than 200 years. The Lisbon Holy House of Mercy received the church and its auxiliary residence after the earthquake that struck Lisbon in 1755 to replace their church and administrative centre, which had been destroyed. It is still a part of the Holy House of Mercy today and is just one of the many historic structures there.
One of the few structures in Lisbon to largely escape the earthquake's damage was the Igreja de So Roque. It was the first Jesuit church to be constructed in the 16th century that was built specifically as a "auditorium-church" for preaching. It has several chapels, the majority of which are in the early 17th-century Baroque style. The Chapel of St. John the Baptist (Capela de So Joo Baptista), built in the 18th century by Nicola Salvi and Luigi Vanvitelli, is the most notable chapel. It was reportedly the most expensive chapel in Europe at the time and was constructed in Rome out of numerous precious stones before being disassembled, shipped, and rebuilt in So Roque.