Brasilia Day 3

We started our day with a walk to Dom Bosco Sanctuary. Like many other buildings designed by Oscar Niemeyer, the outside was made of concrete but I was blown away when I stepped inside. Wall to wall was thousands of pieces of blue Murano glass covered the sanctuary. It was striking and very dramatic. There was also a large chandelier in the middle of the sanctuary. It has no other real decoration, but it didn't need it with all the blue glass. We went down the stairs to the crypt where a replica of Dom Bosco's tomb was. There was also a short video about his life. He is known for taking care of and educating children and teenagers. He originally set up schools and programs for young boys, and then enlisted the help of some women to do the same for girls. Dom Bosco is also said to have had a dream about the formation of Brasilia and the untold treasures that flowed here, similar to a vision, which partially motivated the foundations for the city. This is why he is important to Brasilia.

After the sanctuary, we took a quick Uber to the Cathedral Metropolitana. Lonely Planet doesn't speak fondly of the design calling it a UFO, but I think it looks more like a crown. We entered via a ramp leading underground and were surprised by how bright it was in the church. Like the sanctuary earlier, most of the structure is made from stained glass, but the colors chosen for this church as well as the shape, like a cone, meant that the sunlight poured in from every angle. Hanging from the top in the center were three different sized angels. The altar and floor were made of white marble adding to the bright nature of the church. I wonder what it would be like in the dark because there were no hanging lights, just some tucked in at the outer edges of the church.

We continued our religious journey after a short metro to the Temple of Goodwill. There was a lot going on here and quite a mish mash of cultures and religions. The main worship building looked like a white teepee with a crystal at the top. We walked through the interconnected buildings through a crystal room, an art gallery, an Egyptian meditation room, and finally the temple. The floor of the temple is round with a black and white spiral. We read that you enter the spiral walking on the black to the center and leave the spiral walking on the white. We took our shoes off, as that's how they worship, and entered the spiral. We slowly walked around to the center, looked up to the sky, and walked back out on the white ending at a sort of altar. I can see how the spiral can be used for reflection and prayer. I'm not sure how group worship would take place here, but it was definitely a quiet and contemplative space.

The temple was the end of our religious morning, and then we were back to exploring the unique capital that is Brasilia. We took an Uber to the blueprint for the block neighborhood design that makes up the residential wings of the city, Superquadra Sul, or SQS, 308. Each block has everything it needs: housing, stores, gas, groceries, etc. The residential areas of Brasilia are unique and a mathematician's dream (apparently). It follows a logical numbering system that I still don't have a great understanding of. I definitely recommend googling it for a better explanation than I can give! When we got to SQS 308, we saw the different housing blocks, all color coded and lettered. We also saw the school for block 308. Again, everything in this block was the blueprint for other blocks in Brasilia. Anisio Texeira was an educator who came up with the educational plan for Brasilia including directives for the buildings in 1957. The SQS 308 middle school was the first one to follow the model and was designed by (you guessed it) Oscar Niemeyer. It has simple shapes, concrete blocks, and primary colors.

After visiting SQS 308 we got the bus to Alvorada Palace where the president lives. Yesterday we visited Planalto Palace where the president works, but he lives in a different location closer to the coast. We couldn't get near the building, and definitely not tour the inside despite what the website suggested, but we still got to see it. The name of the building means 'dawn' because the president who created Brasilia said the new capital was the 'dawn of a new era'. It has marble columns and many outdoor sculptures.

From Alvorada Palace we went to the Bank of Brazil Cultural Center. The concrete building was inaugurated in 1993 as a training center for the Bank of Brazil. It's a huge 194,000 square foot building that houses many galleries and screening rooms dedicated to art and culture. It became the cultural center in 2000. We visited an exhibit spread across 3 different rooms and a glass house dedicated to Brazilian artists in the 1980s. It had some pretty funky art and music videos throughout the different galleries. The glass house portion had sculptures, many of which I wasn't totally sure how they related to the 80s, but I enjoyed looking at them and how unique each one was.

Following the cultural center we walked to the JK Bridge. The arch bridge opened in 2002 and was designed by Alexandre Chan. The arches are designed to mimic the path that a stone makes when it skips through the water. In 2003 it won the Gustav Lindenthal Medal at a bridge conference in Pennsylvania. We walked halfway across the bridge under the arches. Then we turned around and went down into a small park to get a picture of the bridge. We stopped at the edge of the Paranoa Lake, which is an artificial lake from the dammed Paranoa River. The purpose was to be a beautiful feature for the new city as well as regulate climate. It is a public lake and the shoreline is designed so that everyone can access the lake for recreation.

From the lake, we walked back under the bridge and along the highway to catch the bus back to town. It was a roller coaster of a bus, the driver was going so quickly around the bends I was shocked we stayed on all the wheels! To finish up our last night in Brasilia, we went back up the TV Tower for the good views before dinner. It was much busier tonight than last night, so we didn't stay as long.

Our whirlwind visit to Brasilia is almost over!Læs mere