The Church of Saint Francis of Assisi (commonly known as the Igreja da Pampulha) was designed by the Brazilian Architect Oscar Niemeyer in 1941.

It is the first listed modern architectural monument in Brazil.

Niemeyer said that he was inspired by the French Poet Paul Claudel's statement:

"A church is God's hangar on earth,"

but the Archbishop of Belo-Horizonte saw it as "the devil's bomb shelter", and it was not consecrated until 1959.

The Archbishop called the structure

"unfit for religious purposes."

A later mayor of Belo Horizonte tried to have it condemned and demolished and when that failed, abused it by filling it with altars and monuments of various styles that did not fit the building.

It was finally taken over by the National Department of Artistic and Historical Patrimony.

After the church was refurbished by Niemeyer, the new Arcbishop  agreed that the church has "great artistic significance and a spiritual atmosphere" and it was finally consecrated in 1959.

This project was patronized by the Mayor of Belo-Horizonte, Juscelino Kubitschek, who became President some years later and invited Niemeyer to design (with urbanist Lúcio Costa) Brazil's new capital, Brasília.

The mural of St. Francis behind the altar

was painted by Candido Portinari,

one of the most important Brazilian artists

of all times.

The mosaics were designed by

 Paulo Werneck.