What makes Brasília iconic on the world architecture map | Eye News,The Indian Express
The modern capital of Brazil testifies to the architectural acumen and artistry of the country’s greatest designers, making this UNESCO World Heritage Site, a thing of beauty
It took under four years, a determined President, his favourite architect and the wide savannah to make Brasília, the capital of Brazil. If it wasn’t ambitious enough to move the capital from the seaside city of Rio de Janeiro into the interiors, it was equally audacious to imagine the shift more than 900 km away could connect the rest of the country through highways and nudge people to come and settle in the middle of nowhere. But more than half a century later, Brasília inspires the world with its iconic structures.
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Bringing the robustness of these ideas to the fore is an exhibition at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), New Delhi, titled “Brasília 60+ and the Construction of Modern Brazil”. From the story of its construction to its recent buildings, told through photographs of Brazil’s masters — Marcel Gautherot, Cristiano Mascaro and Leonardo Finotti — along with other works of art and furniture exhibits, the show is a revelation of how a city came into being, using the powerful symbol of architecture as its selling point.
This modernisation project rejected European classical style and turned its face towards new modernism. By 1960, president Juscelino Kubitschek with urban designer-planner Lucio Costa and architect Oscar Niemeyer had spectacular buildings to show the world — the Brasília Cathedral, the Palacio do Planalto (Presidential Palace), the National Congress (the Parliament), and the President’s official residence, Alvorada Palace.
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