Catedral da Sé. Foto: Jose Cordeiro/ SPTuris.

In 1913, was the construction of the Cathedral as it is today, made by the German Maximilian Emil Hehl, a professor of architecture at the Polytechnic School. The temple was inaugurated on January 25, 1954, in commemoration of the 4th centenary of the city of São Paulo, still without the two main towers.

The first version of the church was installed in 1591, when the Tibiriçá chief chose the land where they would find the first temple of the city, built in mud mortar (wall made of clay and crushed straw, structured in logs).

In 1745, the “Old Cathedral”, as it was called, was elevated to cathedral category. Therefore, in the same year, work began on the construction of the second matrix of the Cathedral, in the same place as the previous. Beside her in the mid-thirteenth century, it rose to Church São Pedro da Pedra. In 1911, the two temples were demolished to make room for the extension of Cathedral Square and finally to the current version of the cathedral.

Catedral da Sé in construction, 1954. Photo: Acervo Estadão.

The cathedral also has a crypt open to visitors, opened in 1919. With thirty vaults, it maintains to this day, the sarcophagi of bishops and archbishops, and store the remains of Tibiriçá chief, the first citizen of Piratininga, and Priest Feijó, Regent of the Empire.