Brasília
Distrito Federal (Federal District)
The city of Brasília, which succeeded Rio de Janeiro as capital of the Federal Republic of Brazil on April 21st 1960, was built in less than three years, and soon developed into a key factor in the opening up of Brazil's middle west; since 1985 it has
numbered among the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Sites. Brasília is 761km/473mi north-east of Belo Horizonte, 2120km/1317mi south of Belém and 2027km/1260mi north of Porto Alegre. The city lies directly on the watershed between the Amazon and the Rio Paraná.
Bus Station:Parque Ferroviário (Setor Noroeste)
Airport
Aeroporto Internacional
The city
Brasília, a city without a history, a new metropolis built to a unified and extraordinarily ambitious plan (mainly the work of Lúcio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer) in a remarkably short time, caused a sensation with its avant-garde architecture and also attracted a good deal of criticism. What distinguishes Brasília from a city that has just "grown" is the strict division between different functions (housing, business, administration, hotels, etc.) which excludes on principle any mingling of different activities and condemns the inhabitants to long journeys between home and work. Moreover the accommodation provided for the construction workers has degenerated into extensive favelas (slum areas).
Under the "pilot plan" prepared by Lúcio Costa the central area of the new capital is in the form of a large cross (though the layout is sometimes interpreted as a bird or an aircraft) consisting of one curving axis running north-south, the Eixo Rodoviário, and a straight axis running east-west, the Eixo Monumental plus the Esplanada dos Ministérios, the central axis on which are the principal official buildings.
Given the great distances to be covered, Brasília is not a city that can be explored on foot. The best plan for visitors is to take a conducted sightseeing tour.
Print this page
Add to Favorites
