Belém - Cathedral

A little way south of the Jesuit College is the Cathedral of Belém, the foundation stone of which was laid in 1748 on the initiative of João V of Portugal; the building was completed in 1771. The neo-classical towers and gable were designed by Antonio Giuseppe Landi, an architect born in Bologna in 1708 who settled in Belém in 1753.

Landi also designed the original reredos; the present one was made in Rome and presented to the Cathedral by Pope Pius XI (1922-39). It incorporates a painting of the Virgin by the Lisbon painter Pedro Alexandrino de Carvalho (1730-1810).