A military post was installed because of its strategic location: it dominated the entire Sanhauá valley, extending along the Paraíba river to Cabedelo.

They emphasize the tower covered with tiles and the superposition of vaults, the carved sandstone, and stylized flowers are interspersed with Baroque reliefs.

The transept is formed by a monolithic cross, with pedestal presenting figures of pelicans or the Phoenix mythological bird, "representing Christ feeding the children with their own food and the resurrection".

There is no doubt that the works of Aleijadinho are of much greater aesthetic, historical, national importance and even the two S. Francisco de Ouro Preto and S. João Del Rei they will be more beautiful, but this one from Paraíba is pure grace, it is beautiful girl, it is parakeet, it is a bonina.The interior is irregular and is already well damaged by repairs and replacements, it also has a pulpit, proportional and design jewelry.

The outer courtyard is walled by them as well and shows niches with scenes of the Passion still on magnificently designed tiles and that, framed by the niches and distant from each other, we can isolate, contemplate and enjoy.In front of everything the cruise is a formidable monolith.I'm amazed Paraíba has one of the most perfect architectural monuments in Brazil.I did not know ... Few know ....[6]French art historian Germain Bazin highlighted the Church of San Francisco as the perfect representative of the Franciscan school of architecture of the Brazilian northeast.

[5] Elias Herckmans, a Dutch governor appointed by the West Indies Company to the Captaincy of Paraíba in 1639, briefly describes the Franciscan convent – still in the first phase of the enlargement works – as the largest and most beautiful [of the city]; is surrounded by a wall, and inside it was built very regularly.