In 1722, the sergeants and soldiers of the infantry third of the Recife garrison, of which the Pernambuco native D. Francisco de Sousa was then field master, decided to found a brotherhood and build a church where they were buried. To do so, they requested permission from the then governor of the captaincy of Pernambuco, D. Manuel Rolim de Moura. Permission was granted on October 27, 1722.
The construction of the church began, around 1723–24, with the main chapel, completed in 1725. In 1726, masses were already being celebrated in the still “imperfect” main chapel, and, in 1728, D. João V, king of Portugal, granted the military assistance to decorate it, an amount to be paid between 1729 and 1730. On December 8, 1750, the image of Nossa Senhora da Conceição was enthroned in the main chapel of the church.
It is possible to assume that the liturgical and artistic decorum of the Conceição dos Militares was already completed in the 1780s, when, in 1781, a representation of the first battle of the Montes Guararapes was painted on the ceiling of the subchoir, which associated the Conceição dos Militares to the belief in Marian protection of the Portuguese-Brazilian military in the Pernambuco Restoration (1645–1654).
In 1938, the year in which the National Historical and Artistic Heritage Service (Sphan, now Iphan) was created, the church was listed in process 04-T-38, in the book of Fine Arts, vol. 1, page nº 03, registration number 09, thus receiving recognition and protection at the federal level.
The baroque building has characteristics of transition to the rococo, being quite rich in decorative elements integrated into its interior, highlighting the lining of the nave, a magnificent work composed of eleven panels, tempera painting on wood, richly framed with gilded and polychrome carvings. decorated with sculptures. The finishing cymbal consists of a balcony supported by Atlanteans with raised arms and heads inclined on projections, ending in a stepped, alternating seven ocular windows, five of which are lateral (on each side), all flanked by Solomonic columns and topped by relief valances. with turned balusters counter.
The church received several interventions over the centuries, being covered by successive layers of white paint, the first at the end of the 19th century, hiding the stylistic characteristics of its original decoration.