Feliciano Mendes commissioned the sanctuary after a vow made in 1757 during a serious illness. The article gives no start or completion date and calls it 18th century. Religious services began in 1765, the year Mendes died. The historian Germain Bazin attributes the frontispiece to Aleijadinho, who with his assistants made the chapel sculptures. The style is Portuguese colonial Baroque, with a Rococo interior influenced by Italy.
The plan is rectangular, with a single nave and a chancel behind a monumental arch. The entrance frame is carved stone, and the altars are gilded wood. An outdoor stairway lined with statues of Old Testament prophets climbs the hill.
The Archdiocese of Mariana owns it. Brazil listed it in 1939, and UNESCO inscribed it in 1985. It is a pilgrimage site.
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