JK & NIEMEYER

BRASILIA - APRIL 2008

Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira (JK), then President of the Republic, and Oscar Niemeyer, architect, are definitely - with Lúcio Costa, urban planner - the three names more closely linked to the building of Brasilia.

Elected in late 1955 for a five year term under the slogan «Fifty years of progress in five», JK ordered the construction of Brasilia, fulfilling an article of the Constitution dating back to 1891 and stating that the capital should be moved from Rio de Janeiro to a place close to the centre of the country. The idea was originally conceived in 1827 when a plan for a new city called Brasilia was presented to the Chamber. The bill was not enacted because Emperor Pedro I dissolved the Assembly. So, Brazil had to wait until 1956 to see the move to start...

Oscar Niemeyer, who is currently 101 years old (born on December 15, 1907), uses to say: «When someone goes to Brasilia, I always say: you may like it or deslike it, but you have never seen something similar... And that's architecture: invention!».


"JK MEMORIAL - Seen from behind, waving to the people in a very familiar way... Designed by Niemeyer"


"FORD GALAXIE used by JK"



"JK BRIDGE - According to Wikipedia, «the main span structure has four supporting pillars submerged under Lake Paranoá, and the deck weight is supported by three 200-foot tall asymmetrical steel arches that crisscross diagonally». The 1200m structure was designed by architect Alexandre Chan and engineer Mário Vila Verde"


"NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE REPUBLIC - mainly used for temporary exhibitions"


"NIEMEYER AT THE MUSEUM - Scale model of Niemeyer's works on display at the National Museum of the Republic""


"MUSEU DE ARTE CONTEMPORÂNEA - Photo of Niemeyer's Museum of Contemporary Art in Niteroi, with view to Rio de Janeiro's Sugar Loaf Hill"


"NATIONAL LIBRARY LEONEL BRIZOLA"



"CATHEDRAL - Niemeyer's cathedral is a concrete-framed hyperboloid structure dedicated on 31 May 1970 to Our Lady of the Aparecida. The columns represent hands moving upwards to heaven. The four evangelists are a work by Alfredo Ceschiatti"


"CATHEDRAL - Inside, the Angels are also by Ceschiatti"


"PIETÁ"



"DON BOSCO SANCTUARY - Don Bosco, fouder of the Salesian Society, made a profecy: «Between parallels 15 and 20, around a lake which shall be formed; A great civilization will thrive, and that will be the Promised Land». Brasília is located between the parallels 15º and 20º South, where the artificial lake Paranoá was cerated; no wonder that Don Bosco became Brasilia's patron saint"


"MASONRY - In Brasilia everything was planned, even the Sector for temples. The Grande Oriente do Brasil, the oldest association of Masonic lodges in Brazil, moved its seat to Brasilia in 1978. The triangular building has an area of more than 7,800 square metres"


"TEMPLE OF GOOD WILL - On October 21, 1989, the journalist and President of the Legion of Good Will, José de Paiva Netto, founded in Brasília the Temple of Good Will — also known as the Temple of Peace or the Pyramid of the Luminous Spirits"


"INTERIOR"


"LIBRARY"



"ECUMENIC PARLIAMENT of the Legion of Good Will"

BRASILIA

BRASILIA - APRIL 2008

The centre of the Brazilian political power is located in the Monumental Axis of Brasilia: The Plaza of the Three Powers (Legislative, Executive and Judicial) and the Ministries Esplanade. That's what will essentially be shown on this post.


"EAST - ESPLANADA DOS MINISTÉRIOS - From the TV Tower towards East, we see the Monumental Axis. First, there is the intersection with the Highway Axis, then we see the buildings of the Ministries on each side of the Esplanade"


"WEST - CONFERENCE CENTRE - On the other side, towards West, there is the Conference Centre, and a little bit further ahead, the JK (Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira) Memorial"


"NORTH - MULTIPURPOSE PAVILLION"


"SOUTH - CITY PARK - The park (420 hectares), much bigger than the Central Park in New York, was designed by landscaper Athos Bulcão and has skating tracks, soccer fields, racing kart tracks, lots of playgrounds, bars and restaurants, an artificial lake, a wave pool and lots of green space. Actually space is not at premium in Brasilia..."


"SOUTHEAST - The National Library, the Cultural Centre, the Cathedral, the Lake and the JK Bridge"



"PALÁCIO DA ALVORADA (Palace of Dawn), designed by Oscar Niemeyer, is the official residence of the President of Brazil. One of the first buildings to be built in Brasilia, its name comes from JK's quote: «... I look towards the future of my country and foresee this dawn with unbreakable faith in its great destiny...». It was inaugurated on June 30, 1958"


"CONGRESS - Located at the Plaza of the Three Powers, it consists of the Senate (81 members seating on the small dome on the left, three from each State and three from the Federal district) and the Chamber of Deputies (513 members elected proportionally, seating on the large dome on the right hand side of the picture). It was designed by Oscar Niemeyer"


"PLAZA OF THE THREE POWERS with the Congress buildings, the Historical Museum of Brasilia, with José Alves Pedroza's stone head of JK» on its façade (on the left), and the Niemeyer's «Marco», to commemorate the inscription of Brasilia on UNESCO's World Heritage List (on the right)"


"POMBAL (Pigeon's House) - A 20m high concrete sculpture by Oscar Niemeyer, asked for by Mrs. Eloá Quadros, wife of President Jânio Quadros"



"PALÁCIO DO PLANALTO (Plateau Palace), also designed by Niemeyer and located at the Plaza of the Three Powers, is the working office of the President of the Republic. It also includes the offices of the Vice-President and of the Chief of Staff"



"SUPREMO TRIBUNAL FEDERAL (Supreme Federal Court) - It is the highest court in Brazil. It also judges the constitutionality of laws passed by the National Congress. The statue of Justice by Alfredo Ceschiatti stays in front of the building"


"PANTEÃO DA PÁTRIA (The Nation’s Pantheon), in the form of a dove, is dedicated to honoring the memory of Brazilian national heroes, who represent ideals of freedom and democracy. It is named after the President Tancredo Neves, who died before taking office. In front we may see the most famous sculpture in Brazil - Os Guerreiros (The Warriors), better known as «Os Candangos» - by Bruno Giorgi dedicated to the workers who built Brasilia, as well as the «Pira da Pátria», a monument by Niemeyer with the symbolic fire"


"PANTHEON - It is one of 23 buildings in Brasília designed by Oscar Niemeyer that were listed as National Heritage Sites by the National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute. On the left, the 100m high mast shows the (allegedly) largest flag in the world to be flown continuously"


"PALÁCIO DA JUSTIÇA - Another work from Niemeyer, it hosts the Ministry of Justice"


"ITAMARATY - The building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, one of Niemeyer's most radiant buildings, is named after the original Itamaraty Palace in Rio de Janeiro. Athos Bulcão created the marble walls, Burle Marx designed the gardens, and Bruno Giorgi carved the sculpture Meteoro"


"PROCURADORIA GERAL DA REPUBLICA - The Office of the Attorney-General, head of the Public Attorneys' structure"


"NATIONAL THEATRE CLAUDIO SANTORO - Started on July 30th, 1960, it was officially completed (after many delays) in March, 1981. The National Theatre, with the shape of a truncated Aztec pyramid, is the biggest architectural centre created by Niemeyer in Brasilia"



"PORTUGUESE EMBASSY"

BRASIL, DISTRITO FEDERAL

BRASÍLIA - APRIL 2008

Brasília was built in forty one months, from 1956 through 1960, to become the new federal capital city of Brazil. The idea was to transfer the federal capital from the coast to the midwestern interior of the country and the city was strictly planned and developed with Lúcio Costa, who won a design contest in 1957, as the principal urban planner, and Oscar Niemeyer as the principal architect. The plan of the city looks like an airplane, with the straight Monumental Axis (Eixo Monumental), with most of the federal buildings, running roughly east-west, and the Highway Axis (Eixo Rodoviário), linking the main residential neighbourhoods, curving north-south.

The planning of Brasília, which is the only city created (from scratch) in the twentieth century to be included UNESCO's List of Historical Heritage Sites, has been a theme for discussion since its inception.


"TEN MILE HIGH GOOGLE PHOTO - The head of the airplane is turned to the right of the picture, towards East"


"SCALE MODEL - The head here is turned to the left... Located at the underground «Espaço Lúcio Costa», the model occupies an area of 179 square metres!"

***



"HOTEL ALVORADA PARK - Everything was planned in Brasília. So the hotels were supposed to be concentrated in two of the «superquadras» (superblocks) close to the intersection between the Highway Axis and the Monumental Axis: the SHN (Hotel Sector North) and SHS (Hotel Sector South). With time, new zones were developed and a new Sector for Tourism Hotels (SHTN) saw the light of day near the Lake Paranoá, close to the residence of the President of the Republic, the Palace of Dawn (Palácio da Alvorada). The Alvorada Park (formerly the Blue Tree) is one of those hotels, probably the best of them..."



"LOBBY AND RECEPTION"


"LOBBY, POOL AND LAKE"



"SUITE 3056"


"LAKE PARANOÁ - The artificial lake was created on the east side of the city by building a dam on the Paranoá River. At an altitude of one thousand metres, it has a shore length of eighty kilometres"




"POOL"


"PALMS AND LAKE"



"ALVORADA PARK - LAKESIDE"


"RESIDENTIAL BLOCK"


"LAKE CLUB of the residential block"


"SUNSET - There is always a problem with these pictures..."