During the 17th and 18th centuries, the order built a large convent and renovated the chapel, referred to as the Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Monte do Carmo (Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel).

The inner decoration, in gilded woodwork in Rococo style, was carved after 1785 by master Inácio Ferreira Pinto, one of the main sculptors of 18th-century Rio de Janeiro.

The Funeral Rites after the death of Queen Maria I in March 1816, and the Te Deum following the solemnity of the Acclamation of her son and heir, John VI, as King of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves (6 February 1818) are among them.

The façade was completed around this time by Portuguese architect Pedro Alexandre Cavroé, who added a pediment in Neoclassical style to the church.

With coup d'état that proclaimed Brazil a Republic (15 November 1889), the church lost its title of Imperial Chapel but remained the Cathedral of the Rio de Janeiro.

Still, in the following decades, the Brazilian people, and the population of the city of Rio de Janeiro, remained predominantly Catholic, and so the Cathedral retained its prestige and cultural significance.

A large statue of the Virgin Mary sits atop the present tower, which was rebuilt between 1905 and 1913 by the Italian architect Rafael Rebecchi.

The walls, chapels and ceiling are covered with ornate Rococo (late Baroque) woodwork showing lightness and unity in style.

The upper walls of the one-aisled nave have a series of balconies and oval paintings of the Apostles by painter José Leandro de Carvalho.

In 1808 the Brazilian composer Father José Maurício Nunes Garcia (1767–1830) was appointed Master of the Royal Chapel by Prince Regent John.