A walking tour of Brasília, the Brazilian capital, resembles strolling through a really large modern art exhibition. In many ways that is exactly what Brasília is. Created as a result of an order from President Juscelino Kubitschek, the entire city was constructed between 1956 and 1960 largely as the artistic expression of three men - urban planner Lúcio Costa, architect Oscar Niemeyer and landscape designer Roberto Burle Marx.
Viewed from the air Brasília resembles the shape of an airplane. In some ways this is a bit unfortunate as it reminded me of Bill Bryson’s comment about Canberra, another planned capital : “gateway to everywhere else.” This would also not be an unfair description of Brasilia - capital of the nation and close to the centre of the country, Brasília is an excellent transport hub, perhaps best experienced as a brief stop off while en route to other parts of Brazil.
Arriving n Brasília early in the morning leaving the evening of the same day, I adopted this brief taster approach to the city. The roughly 7 hours I spent walking the streets and checking out some of the museums was plenty of time to get a snapshot of the architecture that has made Brasília the only 20th Century-constructed city to be awarded UNESCO World Heritage site status.
On a tour of Brasilia, you may become curious as to why a 19th Century Italian Priest, Don Giovanni Bosco, is commemorated throughout the city with everything from place names to pizzas. The reason for these commemorations is that Don Bosco apparently had a prophetic dream that the capital of a great civilisation would one day be constructed in roughly Brasília’s location. Evidently Brazilians believe he was talking about them.
said on : 2008-02-13 @ 19:20
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