The Carmelites arrived in Rio de Janeiro in 1590 and settled in a small chapel. Construction of the present church began around 1761, probably directed by Manuel Alves Setúbal, and it was consecrated in 1770 with the facade still unfinished. Pedro Alexandre Cavroé completed the facade around 1822 and added a Neoclassical pediment. The article calls the style Baroque, with Rococo interior woodwork carved by Inácio Ferreira Pinto after 1785.
When Prince Regent John's court arrived in 1808, the church became a Royal Chapel and then the new cathedral. Pedro I was crowned here in 1822, Pedro II in 1841, and Princess Isabel married Gaston, comte d'Eu, here in 1864.
It became the metropolitan cathedral in 1892, and the modern Rio de Janeiro Cathedral replaced it in 1976.
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