Solomon's Temple in Brazil would put Christ the Redeemer in the shade

One of the world's largest and most controversial Pentecostal churches has been given permission to build a $200m (£130m) replica of Solomon's Temple in Brazil's economic capital, São Paulo.

The 10,000 capacity "mega-church", which is the brainchild of Brazil's Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, will also house a replica of the Ark of the Covenant and be built according to "biblical orientations".

According to the Estado de São Paulo newspaper, planning permission was granted this week and church officials say it should be completed in four years.

"We are preparing ourselves to build the temple, in the same mold as Solomon's," the church's leader and founder, Bishop Edir Macedo said in a televised service, posted on his blog. "[Solomon's] Temple … used tonnes of gold, pure gold ...We are not going to build a temple of gold, but we will spend tonnes of money, without a shadow of doubt."

The church supports so-called "prosperity theology" – by which acts of faith including donations are rewarded with material wealth.

In 2009, São Paulo's public prosecutor accused 10 senior members of the church, including Macedo, of siphoning off billions of dollars of donations to buy cars and property. Macedo, who denied the charges, owns a $45m private jet.