Sights in Brasília

Most of the interesting sights are concentrated on or around the

Eixo Monumental

, an inner-city highway forming the 'arrow' of Brasília's bow. They can be visited by car, taxi or tour over the course of a morning. The

television tower

between the Setor Hoteleiro Norte and the Setor Hoteleiro Sul is a good place to begin a tour and to orientate oneself. It offers excellent panoramic views from the observation platform 75 m up, as do many of the tall hotels nearby.

Praça dos Três Poderes and around

The most important buildings are clustered together at the western end of the Eixo Monumental around the Praça dos Três Poderes; named after the three powers of the federal state that flank it. To the north is the seat of presidential power, the

Palácio do Planalto

. A wall of glass between twin white concrete platforms, it is reached by a long low ramp flanked by guards in red-and-white uniforms. The flag flies when the president is in attendance. Opposite, the

Supremo Tribunal Federal

is smaller and more perfectly formed, with Niemeyer's trademark fluted columns hiding patrolling secret service guards in sharp suits. The famous modernist statue of blind justice sitting in front of the building is by the Mineiro sculptor Alfredo Ceschiatti. To the west, the seat of the Senate and Congress,

Congresso Nacional

, is the most famous and stately group of buildings in Brasília - a tour de force of simple lines and curves. The concave and convex domes of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate are juxtaposed and balanced by the twin towers of the executive: a geometric tension and harmony in which Niemeyer intended to symbolise that of government. These monumental buildings are offset beautifully by the vast expanse of the square, the artificial ponds and the lawns.

There are a handful of other interesting buildings in the plaza: the

Espaço Lucio Costa

, with a scale model of the city; a monument to Juscelino Kubitschek; the

Panteão da Liberdade e Democracia

built in homage to Democracy and Liberty; and, most notably, Bruno Giorgio's

Candangos

- twin bronze figures sculpted in homage to the Candango workers who built the city from nothing in the middle of what was a vast plain, and who received the satellite

favelas

that ring the city as their reward.

Beyond the

praça

to the east and on the shores of Lago Paranoá is the

Palácio Alvorada

, residence of the president and not open to the public.

Less than a kilometre west of the

praça

are two further Niemeyer buildings of note. The

Palácio de Itamarati

is one the finest pieces of modernist architecture in Brazil; its elegant columns rising from a lily pond, which acts like a huge mirror for the entire building. Inside there is a series of rooms each decorated with fine sculpture and paintings including Pedro Américo's

O Grito de Ipiranga

, showing the moment when Dom Pedro shouted his declaration of Brazilian Independence, and Jean- Baptiste Debret's painting of the emperor's subsequent coronation. There are also works by Brazilian modernists Alfredo Volpi, Candido Portinari and Pedro Correia de Araújo. The building is named after the Conde de Itamaraty. Opposite Itamarati is the

Palácio da Justiça

, its walls broken by a series of broad fountains that climb up the façade of the building and drop water into the pond that sits at the building's feet.

West along the Eixo Monumental

The Eixo stretches for some 8 km west of Praça dos Três Poderes eventually reaching the

rodoferroviária

. Almost all of the city's other important monuments lie on either side of the road. We follow them here from east to west.

The government ministry buildings line the Eixo east of the

praça

like dominos, or a series of commissars standing to attention. Eventually they reach Niemeyer's striking

Catedral Metropolitana Nossa Senhora Aparecida

; a crown of thorns in concrete and glass sitting in a toroidal lake and watched over by Alfredo Ceschiatti's four evangelists, standing sentinel-like in concrete. The entrance to the cathedral is via a subterranean tunnel, emerging from relative darkness into an arena bright with stained glass and light marble.

Next to the cathedral are two of the most recently built Niemeyer buildings; which opened to the public in 2008: the

Museu Nacional de Brasília

, a striking dome-shaped

building with an entrance halfway up its side reached by a snaking ramp; and the cuboid

Biblioteca Nacional

next door. Less than a kilometre west, a few blocks south, is the

Santuário Dom Bosco

a modernist cube

with tall Gothic arches filled with stained glass, which projects shades from light blue to indigo as it ascends. It is particularly beautiful in the late afternoon when shafts of light penetrate the building. The church is named after the 19th-century saint and founder of the Salesian order, who proclaimed that a new civilization would arise in the third millennium between the 15th and 16th parallels and on the edge of an artificial lake. The trunk of the enormous cross hanging over the altar was carved from a single piece of tropical cedar.

Beyond the TV tower, which lies at the intersection of the Eixo and the hotel zones, are two other interesting groups of buildings. The

Memorial Juscelino Kubitschek

(

), stands high above a marble plinth waving towards the Praça dos Três Poderes. The former president's tomb lies beneath the marble together with a collection of memorabilia. In front of the memorial is the

Memorial dos Povos Indígenas

; a round concrete building shaped like a

Bororo

communal house or

maloca

and reached by a tongue-like ramp. Inside is a small but

fascinating collection of indigenous art and cultural artefacts. On the other side of the Memorial JK, east of Praça do Cruzeiro, is the city's second Niemeyer cathedral, the

Catedral Militar de Nossa Senhora da Paz

. This is a brilliant white wedge of concrete cut with jagged windows, whose design echoes Notre Dame du Haut, designed by Niemeyer's mentor, Le Corbusier. The church marks the entrance to the

Quartel General do Exército

; an enormous and imposing complex of military buildings centred

on an elliptical auditorium made of a single wave of concrete and added to Brasília during the military

dictatorship, as if to compensate for the lack of army presence on the Praça dos Três Poderes. All are by Niemeyer. There is a small

military museum

on the site.

The

Templo da Boa Vontade

, www.tbv.com.br, open 24 hrs

, is a seven-faced pyramid dedicated to all philosophies and religions topped by one of the world's largest rock crystals.

The

Panteão Tancredo Neves

is a 'temple of freedom and democracy', built 1985- 1986 by Niemeyer. It includes an impressive homage to Tiradentes .

The

Monumental Parade Stand

has unique and mysterious acoustics (the complex is north of the Eixo Monumental, between the 'Memorial JK' and the

rodoferroviária

). There are remarkable stained-glass panels, each representing a state of the Federation, on the ground floor of the Caixa Econômica Federal.

This is edited copy from Footprint Handbooks. For comprehensive details (incl address, tel no, directions, opening times and prices) please refer to book or individual chapter PDF

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