Brasília

A planned capital shaped like an airplane, whose UNESCO-listed modernist ensemble by Niemeyer, including the cathedral, Congress and Three Powers Plaza, forms an open-air museum of architecture.

Brasília, the capital of Brazil, lies in the Federal District on the Central Plateau at about 1,100 m above sea level. It was built from scratch on empty scrubland between 1956 and 1960, following Lúcio Costa's urban plan and Oscar Niemeyer's architecture. The core of the city, the Plano Piloto (Pilot Plan), is shaped like an airplane; it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in its entirety in 1987 and is the largest modernist city ever built. Sightseeing centers on the Monumental Axis, the plane's fuselage: at its eastern end, Three Powers Plaza is surrounded by the National Congress, the Planalto Palace (the presidential office) and the Supreme Federal Court; heading west you pass the Esplanade of the Ministries, Itamaraty Palace, the Cathedral, the National Museum and the TV Tower, with the JK Memorial and the Memorial of Indigenous Peoples at the western end. The north and south wings are residential superblocks, and the South Wing is home to the Igrejinha chapel and the Dom Bosco Sanctuary. East of the city is the artificial Lake Paranoá, lined by the Alvorada Palace, the JK Bridge and the Ermida Dom Bosco hermitage chapel, a sunset favorite. The climate is tropical highland: the dry season (May–Sep) is sunny with little rain, warm days and cool nights, but the air is extremely dry; the rainy season (Oct–Apr) brings frequent afternoon thunderstorms. The city was designed for cars and sights are far apart, so walking is impractical; take taxis or rent a car, although the core of the Monumental Axis can be covered on foot in half a day. Free guided tours of Congress, Itamaraty Palace and other buildings require a passport. Plan on 2 days: one for the architecture of the Monumental Axis, one for the lake and the South Wing.

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