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Cultural development in the colonial period: (1500-1822) Portuguese traditions, under the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, brought European influences to Brazilian art and music during the 19th century.
From 1968 to the 1980s, the military censored the press, popular music and theater, and established state control over radio and television. After the end of military rule in the 1980s, the government lifted restrictions on artists and journalists. One of Brazil's most famous sculptors and architects is the colonial artist known as Aleijadinho, who worked in a baroque style on the churches of colonial Minas Gerais.
Saint Francis church in Salvador, an example of baroque influence, is decorated inside with ornate gold. Church construction began in the first half of the 18th century. The panels, made of Portuguese tiles, portraying Saint Francis' birth and his renunciation of material goods, are also baroque.
