Saint Roch's Church is a former Jesuit church built in the Baroque style, with interior furnishings combining Baroque and Rococo influences. Inconspicuous from the outside, it has a beautifully decorated interior. There is a rococo chapel of Saint John the Baptist decorated with gold, ivory and precious stones.
The church was built in the mid-sixteenth century, when the Jesuits moved to Lisbon. It was their first church in Portugal and until the eighteenth century the main headquarters in the country. In the mid-eighteenth century, Portuguese King Jan V ordered the furnishing of the chapel of Saint John the Baptist in Italy. It was carried out at the plant of Luigi Vanvitelli and Niccolo Salvi, and then transported to Lisbon. It was then the most expensive chapel in the world.
The temple has a simple, towerless facade with pilasters. The interior is decorated with paintings and mosaics arranged from azulejos tiles. The influences of mannerism, baroque and rococo are mixed here. The walls of the chapels and altars are covered with intricate ornaments made of gold and expensive species of wood. The interior is dripping with decorations. The equipment is completed by organs with more than a thousand pipes.
Attractions inside
