Brasilia

Juscelino Kubitschek ran for the presidency of Brazil in 1955 on the promise that he would create a capital city for Brazil from scratch somewhere in the interior of the country.  He won and by the end of his term in office – 1960 – the new capital city of Brasilia was inaugurated.  Niemeyer was the head architect for the new city and was the head designer for all the major government buildings as well as many smaller city projects. 

Luis Costa laid out the city – resembling a bird or an airplane – with two major axis.  The north south curved axis contains the city’s housing and services arranged into superblocks and the east west axis contains all the government buildings and monuments.  

Brazilian National Congress Building



Congress - Senate in the dome on the left, House of Deputies in the Saucer on the right, and administration towers in the center.




Inside the House of Deputies' saucer




Inside the Senate's dome





The other four main government buildings: Presidential offices (Palácio do Planalto) top left, Foreign Affairs (Palácio do Itamaraty) top right, Ministry of Justice (Palácio da Justiça) bottom left, and Supreme Court (Supremo Tribunal Federal) bottom right. 




Presidential offices (Palácio do Planalto) at night



Supreme court with lady Justice sitting outside



Ministry of Justice on the left and Foreign Affairs on the right



The absolutly amazing staircase in the Palácio do Itamaraty



The entrance to the National Cathedral



Us inside the Cathedral




The Cathedral at night




The contemporary art museum.



Inside the museum

The amazing ramp system that was not open when we visited.

The national library

The memorial to Juscelino Kubitschek

The brotherhood statue in the Plaza of the three powers.

To brag a little I included this picture to show the extent of how much we packed.  2 backpacks, one satchel, and one purse for our two week journey.  We didn't have to check a bag once despite getting on eight planes.