Town Hall (Santo Amaro)


The Town Hall of Santo Amaro is an 18th-century municipal building in Santo Amaro, Bahia, Brazil. The building is located in the Historic Center of the city on the Praça da Purificação, a public square. The town hall sits opposite of the Parish Church of Our Lady of Purification and the Church of Our Lady of Protection faces the rear of the structure. The structure has two stories and covers. The façade is divided into three parts with a bell tower at center, a feature found in other town halls of the period in Bahia. The bell tower has a hemispherical dome. The town hall was completed in 1769 and served as both an administrative building and prison in the 18th century, but now serves as a municipal government office.
The gravestone of Francisco Lourenço de Araújo, a hero of the Paraguayan War, is located in the courtyard of the Town Hall. Araújo was a wealthy sugarcane plantation owner and styled the Baron of Sergy after the Paraguayan War. He was the only person to hold the title.

Protected status

The Town Hall of Santo Amaro was listed as a historic structure by the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage in 1941. Both the structure and its contents were included in the IPHAN directive under inscription number 285.