[2][3][4] The Parish Church of Our Lady of Pilar is located in the Comércio district, in the historic lower city (cidade baixa) of Salvador.

Its location at the base of the slope, which is largely unstabilized, has continually put the church at risk of damage caused by landslides.

Construction of its church began in 1756 on an undeveloped slope of land beyond the lower city, or cidade baixa, or Salvador.

The church, its internal patio with a fountain, and cemetery at a higher level formed an architectural complex unique to the city of Salvador.

[7] Salvador was geographically divided into ten parishes, or freguesias, in the 19th century, uniting the functions of the state and church.

Pilar, as one of the commercial areas of the lower city, was home to both wealthy Portuguese merchants and enslaved and freed Afro-Brazilians; the latter worked in domestic labor, as fisherman, and as street vendors.

The fire also damage or completely melted sacred treasures of the church, including lamps, silver candlesticks, and the tabernacle.

The façade of Parish Church of Our Lady of Pilar, other than its monumental pediment, doors, and windows, are in lioz limestone imported from Lisbon.

The art historian Germain Bazin describes the church structure as a "rare" design in Bahia: it lacks corridors with the nave, has only two narrow corridors that lead to the sacristy, and results in a "refinement of forms"; church design of this kind in the previous century is found first in Braga in Portugal and then in Minas Gerais in Brazil.

An exterior cemetery was an innovation of the period; burials within the church proper caused both sanitary problems and the spread of infectious diseases to parishioners.