Terreiros listed by IPHAN: which ones are they and what does it mean

The terreiros listed by IPHAN were eleven until 2018, according to the COPENE table. After that, the Bahian press recorded two more, in 2024 and in 2025. There is no official total for today here. To be listed is to register the asset in a Livro do Tombo and subject it to conservation rules. Each house has two dates: the one from the Advisory Council's decision and the one from the registration.

Which are the terreiros listed by IPHAN

The terreiros listed by IPHAN until 2018 are eleven: seven in Salvador and one in each of these cities, São Luís, Cachoeira, Itaparica and Recife. The table adds the two approved later, in Cachoeira and in Lençóis, and notes where the registration date was not located.

The dates and the nations of the first nine lines come from the table of the Cunha dissertation, in an archived copy. The July/2017 registration of Agbôulá and the December/2015 one of Roça do Ventura come from the IPHAN list. The dissertation is a professional master's work from IPHAN and writes keto, and the text about the nations of Candomblé explains the difference between ketu, jeje and angola. Casa Branca appears as ketu in the dissertation and as an example of the jeje-nagô model in an IPHAN note cited by Brasil de Fato. The text does not choose between the two descriptions. The dissertation speaks of "black and nagô identity" at Sítio de Pai Adão. The Folha de Pernambuco calls Pai Adão a propagator of nagô Candomblé in Recife. Tumba Junçara is from the angola nation, according to Souza.

Why each house has two dates

The decision is the vote of the Advisory Council. The registration in the Livro do Tombo comes later, sometimes years later. Gantois has a decision in 2002 and registration in 2005, and Agbôulá, a decision in 2015 and registration in 2017.

The list of IPHAN processes, in the archived copy, and the dissertation diverge regarding Opô Afonjá and Roça do Ventura. The table shows both dates. Generated in October 2018, the list included Tumba Junçara and Sítio de Pai Adão as approved for heritage listing, without registration.

Casa Branca is the first terreiro listed by the federal government, according to Ferreira and Santos. The Anais do Museu Paulista record the two dates: May 31, 1984 for the decision and 1986 for the registration.

How many are there today

In November 2023, Brasil de Fato still counted 11 terreiros listed as heritage sites by IPHAN. The terreiro of Mãe Judith, in Cachoeira, was listed in February 2024, and the ordinance was released on June 20, according to Bahia Notícias. The source does not state the nation of the house nor mention the Council.

On November 26, 2025, the Advisory Council approved the Palácio de Ogum e Caboclo Sete-Serra, in Lençóis, according to another report from Bahia Notícias. It is presented as the oldest jarê terreiro in operation in the country. The rapporteur wrote that it expresses “a singular Afro-Brazilian tradition.” For this reason, the table does not provide its Candomblé nation.

What listing (tombamento) protects in a terreiro

Heritage listing (tombamento) protects the material asset: the area that IPHAN and the community delimit as the terreiro. This includes the worship structures, the dwellings on the same land, the sacred trees, the paths, the water sources, and stretches of forest, according to Cunha.

The law that governs heritage listing is Decree-Law 25/1937. It prohibits destroying, demolishing, or mutilating the listed asset (art. 17). Repairing, painting, or restoring requires prior authorization from the heritage agency, today IPHAN. Art. 18 requests the same authorization to build in the vicinity in a way that reduces the visibility of the asset.

In 2023, according to Brasil de Fato, IPHAN filed an action with the Attorney General of the Union against a work near Casa Branca that invaded the privacy of the asset. The preliminary decision was issued in September of that year.

What heritage listing does not change

Decree-Law 25/1937 deals with material assets and does not use the words worship, rite, or religion. Architect Marcia Sant’Anna, a former IPHAN employee, wrote that heritage listing must respect the dynamics of religious use and the community's occupancy limits.

[...] heritage listing, in these cases, must aim to guarantee the privacy and permanence of these spaces, in the face of numerous threats of inadequate occupation [...]

Marcia Sant’Anna, in a text cited in Cunha's dissertation

• The autonomy of the community was a concern of the process. In an opinion from May 25, 1984, Fry recalled the concern of the heritage sector regarding the effects of the act on "a living and dynamic institution." He suggested caution "so as not to harm the autonomy of the candomblé community." Fry also wrote that the sacred gameleira trees of the house "can never be cut" and that heritage listing "would only fulfill the intentions of the community." Councilor Gilberto Velho wrote that preservation measures "must not constitute obstacles."
• The house does not need to be frozen. For Cunha, heritage listing does not prohibit alterations, but rather destruction, mutilation, and demolition. The terreiros, she says, would not necessarily be "stiffened."
• The land continues to be another issue. Mãe Judith's terreiro was the target of attempted invasions by a cellulose company in 2018 and 2019. After the tombamento, the priest said: "This tombamento protects us, but we still want the regularization of the land to obtain more legal guarantees."

Tombamento is an instrument of protection of the asset, not a shielding. Attacks on terreiros are the subject of the text about religious racism, and the penalties are in the text about the law against religious intolerance.

Heritage listing (tombamento) and registration: what is the difference

Tombamento protects material assets, and registration recognizes immaterial assets. Tombamento comes from Decree-Law 25/1937, which speaks of movable and immovable assets. Registration comes from Decree 3.551/2000, which created four books: knowledge, celebrations, forms of expression, and places.

Tombamento: material asset, Decree-Law 25/1937, Tombo Books | Registration: immaterial asset, Decree 3.551/2000, four registration books

In both cases, there is mention of inscription, but in different books. In registration, the inscription has as a reference "the historical continuity of the asset and its national relevance." The table in this text is of heritage listing (tombamento) of terreiros, that is, of material assets. It is not a registration of the religion. What IPHAN listed were terreiros. In the search for titles in the Registered Cultural Assets, conducted on October 2, 2026, there is no registration of Candomblé or Umbanda.

State and municipal heritage listing (tombamento): Bahia, Rio, São Paulo, and Belo Horizonte

State and municipal tombamento also protect terreiros, and each sphere has its own agency. Some terreiros have protection at more than one level.

• Bahia (IPAC). On July 23, 2026, the Official Gazette published the state heritage listing of two terreiros, according to Bahia Notícias. They are Ilê Asé Kalè Bokùn, of the ijexá nation, in Salvador, and Omo Ilê Agbôulá, in Itaparica, which was already listed by IPHAN. The worship of egungun is in the text about egum in Candomblé.
• Rio de Janeiro (INEPAC). According to Revista Museu, the Official Gazette published on June 1, 2016, the provisional heritage listing of Ilê Axé Opô Afonjá in São João de Meriti. It is the house of Coelho da Rocha, in São João de Meriti, and it is not on the federal list.
• São Paulo (Condephaat). Axé Ilê Obá, in Jabaquara, was the first terreiro listed by the agency, in 1990. Six houses were added in 2019, including the National Sanctuary of Umbanda, in Santo André, according to Jornal da USP.
• Belo Horizonte (municipality). The City Hall listed Ilê Wopo Olojukan in 1995. In July 2020, the municipal heritage council published protection rules for the neighborhood, according to O Tempo. Among them are trees planted on the property boundaries, the "green cloth," to maintain the privacy of the rituals. New constructions must respect a distance of 5 meters from the wall and cannot have windows facing the terreiro.

No terreiro from the federal list is located in Minas Gerais.

Frequently asked questions

References

• Juliana da Mata Cunha, professional master's from IPHAN, 2018: Who can do more than the owner of the house? Social participation in the patrimonialization process of Terreiro Ilê Obá Ogunté (Sítio de Pai Adão), copy archived in the Wayback Machine. The original IPHAN address redirects to the home page
• IPHAN: List of Registration Processes, spreadsheet generated in October 2018, copy archived in the Wayback Machine
• Luciane Barbosa de Souza, COPENE 2018: African-rooted terreiros in IPHAN processes
• Luciane Barbosa de Souza, COPENE 2018: the registration of Ilê Axé Iyá Nassô Oká by IPHAN, a case study
• Ferreira and Santos, Revista de Políticas Públicas (UFMA), 2018: protection and preservation of the cultural heritage of Afro-Brazilian religions
• Anais do Museu Paulista, 2022: the heritage listing of Terreiro da Casa Branca
• Presidência da República: Decree-Law 25/1937, arts. 1, 4, 17 and 18
• Presidência da República: Decree 3.551/2000, art. 1
• IPHAN: Registered Cultural Assets, collection of immaterial assets, consultation by title on October 2, 2026
• Folha de Pernambuco, 09/21/2018: Iphan lists, in Recife, the terreiro of Pai Adão
• Brasil de Fato, 11/02/2023: listing of terreiros and quilombos by Iphan
• Bahia Notícias, 06/21/2024: Cachoeira terreiro after the listing
• Bahia Notícias, 11/26/2025: Iphan approves heritage listing of Terreiro Palácio de Ogum and Caboclo Sete-Serra
• Bahia Notícias, 07/23/2026: Salvador and Itaparica terreiros become cultural heritage of Bahia
• Revista Museu, 06/02/2016: Terreiro Ilê Axé Opô Afonjá is listed by the state of Rio de Janeiro
• Jornal da USP, January 15, 2025: book about the listing of São Paulo terreiros
• O Tempo, 07/27/2020: the green cloth of the first terreiro of Belo Horizonte