Brasilia Day 2

Today was a busy tourist day in Brasilia. We walked to the TV Tower with the aim to get a bird's eye view of the city before we started our day. Unfortunately when we got there, the elevator was broken so they told us to come back later in the day. Allan was a bit disappointed, but we pressed onwards to our next stop.

We took a quick Uber to Praça do Cruzeiro. The cross marks the highest point in the urban area of Brasilia (1,172m). It was the starting point for developing the layout of the city, the Monumental Axis. It was also the spot where the first mass was said in Brasilia in 1957. Right near this spot is the JK Memorial. This memorial commemorates and honors the life of Juscelino Kubitschek, the president of Brazil who moved the capital and built Brasilia. The memorial itself was very large with a pond on either side of the building and a large statue in the front. Underneath the memorial is a museum dedicated to his life. He seemed well liked and important for modern Brazil. Many foreign leaders were featured with him throughout the museum such as JFK, Eisenhower, and others. In the library a set of Shakespeare books gifted by Queen Elizabeth II were on display. There were many pictures and artifacts from his life as well as his wife and family. There were also several outfits he and his wife wore throughout his time as president. In the center of the museum was his tomb made of black marble in a circular red room. It was a well laid out and thoughtful memorial museum.

Across the street from the JK Memorial is the Memorial to Indigenous People. It was designed by Oscar Niemeyer, like much of Brasilia, and opened in 1999 to bring attention to the indigenous people of Brazil. It has a circular design around a central courtyard was like walking down a ramp around a spiral as we went through the museum. The museum holds a collection of items from different Indian nations around Brazil. Whenever you looked at an item, it also had a map that showed where it came from in Brazil. I always live seeing how natural materials are used to create such beautiful things. The ceremonial masks with all the long tassels were especially interesting to me.

Behind that memorial was the Praça do Buriti. It has two large fountains and the Buriti Palm. The Buriti Palm was selected as the city plant during construction of the city in 1959. It was chosen because it is native to the region. It felt a bit random to see one palm tree in the middle of a large plaza between two big fountains, but it stood out so maybe that is the purpose for the placement.

Along the edges of the praça are a medley of government buildings with very cleancut concrete designs and lots of windows. Some of the buildings we saw were government buildings, Palacio do Buriti, and the Palacio da Justiça. We ended up getting an impromptu tour of the Justice building (after some rigamarole with passports and finding someone that spoke English). A man who works in the museum on site took us around the building and explained the different courts and judges that Brazil has. He also took us through the museum and explained some of the key cases that were decided on the Brasilia courts. Some of the case files were quite thick! Despite him saying he didn't have a lot of time for a tour we ended up spending about an hour and a half with him; it was very generous of him to give his time to show us the courts and explain things to us.

After the Palace of Justice, we continued our walk down the Monumental Axis passing by the huge Convention Center, popping our heads into the small Planetarium, and going back to the TV Tower to see if the elevator was fixed. It was! We went up to the viewing platform and got a great view of the Monumental Axis. From the viewpoint it was so easy to see the thought out layout of the city from the center. We couldn't see the residential layout as clearly.

After the TV Tower we got an Uber to the opposite end of the axis where many of the government buildings are. Along the way we passed the cathedral, library, national museum, and many ministerial buildings. We got to the Palaçio do Itamaraty and unfortunately it was closed due to the BRICS Conference. It was still nice to be able to see the outside despite not getting a tour. The building has round arches in Niemeyer's signature concrete and a reflecting pool in the front of it. It almost looked like the building was floating in a lily pond. It is the Foreign Ministry Building and the 5 marble blocks are meant to symbolize the continents.

We began making our way to the Supreme Court, but while we walked the 5-10 minutes there, it started to pour with rain. Allan had gone (with the bag of rain jackets) to get a quick picture of a different building away from the Supreme Court while I made my way there. I took some shelter under a tree until he came back with the rain jackets. We waited out the rain for a bit before going down to the court. We couldn't get a tour here either because of the conference, but took a picture of the outside. It was a large building with a 10 foot concrete statue out front called 'Justice' and pillars in a big concrete plaza. Apparently its design is meant to mirror the Planalto Palace across the plaza.

We were now down at the bottom of the axis and could walk and see many different sites. We visited Espaço Lucio Costa with it's white building and dove stained glass. Nearby was the huge flagpole (330 feet tall) made out of 24 steel rods with massive 3,078 square foot flag at the top. We went to Praça dos Trés Poderes, Plaza of Three Powers, where all the different government buildings were situated around. It had stopped raining now thankfully, so exploring was much easier. We walked past the Palácio do Planalto where the president works. The design has a large ramp out front with two dressed, armed guards. It was also designed to look like it was floating with the way the pillars connect to the building. It also has a balcony where the president can address the citizens.

We got in an Uber and went up to the National Museum and National Library. The museum was half a sphere with a ramp extending into it from the ground and around the outside. An exhibit was just taken down and they hadn't put anything new in the museum because it closes in a couple days for Carnaval anyway, so we couldn't go in here either. We were noticing a trend with being able to see the inside of the buildings. After our failed attempt to visit the museum we went across the plaza to the national library. This building seemed pretty normal on the outside compared to the other Niemeyer buildings, and we did manage to get inside this one, but it wasn't very exciting. There weren't even that many books!

We were finished with our site seeing for the day, but it was getting closer to sunset, so we decided to head back up to the TV Tower for sunset. When we got there the fountain in front of the tower was on and was lit up as the sun went down. We stayed until it closed to see the sky change and the city light up in the night. From here, we walked to get some dinner and then to chill out back at the hotel after a very busy sightseeing day.Leggi altro