São Cristóvão São Cristóvão

São Cristóvão

São Cristóvão, the first capital of Sergipe and the fourth city of Brazil, was founded in 1590 and is just 23 Km from the capital of Sergipe, Aracaju, high on a hillside. When moving through the city, divided between the upper town and lower town, you will come across numerous houses of colonial architecture, churches, museums, squares and the stone floor pé de moleque (a type of irregular stone that resembles the rich past of the region).

Most of these relics are reserved by the National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute (Iphan). One, in particular, earned the prestige of becoming a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2010: São Francisco Square.

The square, in a quadrilateral format, is surrounded by the city’s most important buildings, such as the Church and the Convent of São Francisco, with beautiful baroque architecture that houses the Museum of Sacred Art. On the square you will also find the Historic Museum, an old palace of the province where the Emperor of Brazil, Dom Pedro II, stayed and the Casa de Misericórdia, a place of Baroque architecture where the first hospital of Sergipe was opened in the 17th century.

Another square that is also worth visiting is the Praça do Carmo, where you will find the Nossa Senhora do Rosário dos Homens Pretos Church, built by Jesuits in the 18th century. The slaves of the time were devotees of the Saint, honored in the name of the church, and even today the square is a place of the cultural manifestations of afro heritage, such as the Taieira (procession and dance of women dressed as Bahia locals in honor of Nossa Senhora do Rosário and São Benedito) and Chegança (a display with people dressed as sailors).

Going to São Cristóvão there is also the joy of two very famous delicacies: the bricelets and queijadas. The first, a type of thin orange-flavored biscuit made by nuns; the second, a very sweet coconut candy of secular tradition. Be sure to see (and maybe buy) the famous rag dolls made by local artisans. São Cristóvão gives good reasons to leave taking more than just history in your luggage!