Page 262 - DK Eyewitness Travel Guides - The World's Must-See Places

THE AMERICAS Brasilia

A 2Oth-century city of pure invention, B rasflia is the realization of
a seemingly impossible dream. President Juscelino Kubitschek de
0 livei ra ( 19 56-60) was elected partly on the bas is of his highly
ambitious pledge to move the capital of Brazil746 miles (1,200 km)
Recifae
inland, from Rio de Janeiro into the country's empty center, before
BRAS ILl{'
the end of his first term. This was miraculously achieved by the tens
PACIFIC of thousands of workers who created the specially built city from
OCEMJ • Ro de Janeiro
an area of scrubland. The principal public buildings, which include
A TlArJTI C
OCEArJ a cathedral, are strikingly designed. Brasilia fulfilled Kubitschek's
ambition to develop the country's interior and create a monument
THE CllY'S LAYOUT both to modern architecture and Brazil's economic potential.
Brasilia's unique design is referred to as the
Pilot Plan. Urban planner Lucio Costa said he
BRASfliA CATHEDRAL
simply used a shape that foil owed the lie of
The striking yet simple form of the cathedral
the land. He wanted to form a centralized, provides Brasnia with a recognizable identity.
geometric plan to create an ideal city, and An illusion of space is created in the interior
therefore an ideal society. lhe design is by the circular floor being set bel ow ground
based on two axes a Monumental Axis level and therefore lower than the entrance.
and a Residential Axis. Six wide avenues are
intended to provide the grandeur of a capital
city, with the Supreme Court, Congress Baptistry
Complex, and Presidential Palace (Pianalto This unusual, egg-shaped building
Palace) representing the balance of the three is said to be a representation of
powers. The residential area is made up of the host (sacramental bread). :::;:;;;~~;ii~~~~:~
It is connected to the caltledral
"superblocks" -six -story apartment bui !dings, by a tunnel.
grouped to form neighborhood units.

THE COMPETITION
In 1957, Lucio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer were
announced as the winners of the competition
launched to choose the urban design of BrasOia.
Costa was responsible for the general design
of Brasnia, but Niemeyer created the main
buildings. Both were students of the modernist
architect Le C orbusier, the father of functional,
boxlike buildings. Costa has been criticized for
not providing for public transportation, and for
designing a city for 500,000 people that today
houses two mi Ilion residents, many living in
slums. How ever, it is generally agreed that
Niemeyer achieved his goal of creating a city ...,.__ Cathedral entran<e
with "harmony and a sense of occasion" with
his powerful public buildings.

OSCAR NIEMEYER A PRIESTLY VISION
The vision of Oscar Niemeyer has become
In 1883, an Italian priest named Dom
synonymous with the rise of modern Brazil. Bosco had a vision about the future
Born in 190 7, Niemeyer graduated from Rio site of Brazil's new capital. Each year,
de Janeiro's National School of Fine Arts in on the last Sunday in August, a Pulpit~
1934 and collaborated with Lucio Costa and procession in Brasilia celebrates the This contains a huge
crucifix carved from
Le Corbusier on the new Ministry of Education anniversary of his dream. a single piece of
and Health in Rio. His style became more tropical cedarwood.
daring as he incorporated reinforced concrete
into his buildings. He is probably best known
KEY DATES
for his designs for the main public buildings in
1956 1957 1958 1960 1987
Brasilia, such as the concave and convex domes
of the National Congress, the simple yet Kubitschek is inaugurated Construction of the lhe foundatbn stone Brasilia is inaugurated Brasilia is designated a
as president of BraziL A city begins, based on of the cathedral is laid; on April 21 and becomes World Heritage Site
evocative cathedral and the spectacular
compet~bn is launched Ldcb Costa's Pibt Plan. the building is consecrated the capital c~y of BraziL by UNESCO.
Palace of Justice. A pioneer of modern for the design of Brasilia. in 1970.
architecture, he has won numerous prizes.