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| Brasília | |||
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| Nickname: BSB | |||
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| Coordinates: | |||
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| Country |  Brazil
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| Region | Center-West | ||
| State | Brazilian Federal District | ||
| Founded | 21 April 1960 | ||
| Government | |||
| - Governor | Jose Roberto Arruda | ||
| Area | |||
| - Total | 5,802 km² (2,204,2 sq mi) | ||
| Elevation | 1,172 m (3,845 ft) | ||
| Population (2008)http://www.ibge.gov.br - IBGE demographics | |||
| - Total | 2,529,580 | ||
| - Density | 435,98/km² (1,129,17/sq mi) | ||
| Time zone | UTC (UTC-3) | ||
| Area code(s) | 61 | ||
| HDI (2000) | 0.936 – high | ||
| Website: Brasília, Brazilian Federal District | |||
This article is about the capital of Brazil. For the airplane, see Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia. For the car, see Volkswagen Brasilia.
Brasília (IPA: [bɾaˈziliɐ]) is the capital of Brazil, located in the central part of the country. It has a population of about 2,455,903 as of the 2007 census estimate, and is the seat of the federal government: the president (residing in the Palácio da Alvorada), the Brazilian supreme court, and the Brazilian parliament. Brasília is listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Building of the city began in 1956 with Lúcio Costa as the principal urban planner and Oscar Niemeyer as the principal architect. In 1960, it formally became Brazil\'s capital. When seen from above, the city\'s shape resembles an airplane or a butterflyLucio CostaGoogle Maps. Brasília is also known as the "Capital da Esperança", which translates to "The Capital of Hope". The phrase was coined by French author André Malraux.
Brasília is located in the Federal District, which has the same borders as the city. The federal district is surrounded by the Brazilian state of Goiás, except for a short boundary with Minas Gerais. The city is not a traditional municipality by Brazilian law.http://www.aboutbrasilia.com/ About Brasilia
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Brasilia was built to be Brazil\'s new capital city. The idea was to transfer the federal capital of Brazil from the coast to the midwestern interior of the country. Brazil had two capital cities before that: Rio de Janeiro and Salvador da Bahia. By transferring the capital city to the interior, the government intended to help populate that area of the country. People from all over the country were hired to build the city, especially those from the Northeast region of Brazil. These workers would be known as "Candangos". Brasilia is known, internationally, for having applied the principles established in the Athens Charter of 1933.
Satellite photo of Brasília
President Juscelino Kubitschek ordered the construction of Brasília, fulfilling an article of the country\'s constitution stating that the capital should be moved from Rio de Janeiro to a place close to the center of the country. Lúcio Costa won a contest and was the main urban planner. Oscar Niemeyer, a close friend of Lúcio, was the chief architect of most public buildings and Roberto Burle Marx was the landscape designer. Brasília was built in 41 months, from 1956 to April 21, 1960 when it was officially inaugurated.
From 1763 to 1960, Rio de Janeiro was the capital of Brazil. At this time, resources tended to be centred in Brazil\'s southeast region near Rio de Janeiro. Brasília’s geographical central location made for a more regionally neutral federal capital.
The idea of placing Brazil’s capital in the interior dates back to the first republican constitution of 1891, which roughly defined where the federal district should be placed, but the site itself was not defined until 1922. Brasília’s location, it was argued, would promote the development of Brazil\'s central region and better integrate the entire territory of Brazil.
According to a legend, Italian saint Don Bosco in 1883 had a prophetic dream in which he described a futuristic city that roughly fitted Brasília\'s location. Today, in Brasília, there are many references to this educator who founded the Salesian order. One of the main cathedrals in the city bears his name.
The Juscelino Kubitschek Memorial
Brasília is the result of a modern urban project designed by Lúcio Costa. When seen from above, the city’s pilot plan resembles the shape of an airplane – many prefer to refer to it as a bird with open wings –, although the architect’s original urban concept pointed to the shape of a cross, to symbolize possession.
The city’s project is, up to this day, a world reference when the issue is urban planning. The idea of spreading residential buildings around expansive urban areas, of tracing the city plan around large avenues and dividing it into sectors, has produced an intense debate and reflections on life in big cities in the 20th century.
The city also hosts a varied assortment of art works from artists like Bruno Giorgi, Alfredo Ceschiatti, Athos Bulcão, Marianne Peretti, Alfredo Volpi, Di Cavalcanti, Victor Brecheret and Burle Marx, whose works have been integrated into the city’s architecture, making it a unique landscape.
A scene for political events, music performances and movie festivals, Brasília is a cosmopolitan city, with around 90 embassies, a wide range of restaurants and complete infrastructure ready to host any kind of event. Not surprisingly, the city stands out as an important business tourism destination, which is a rising segment of the local economy, crowding dozens of hotels spread around the national capital.
The national capital’s climate is tropical savanna according to Köppen\'s classification, with seasons being defined according to the degree of humidity of the air: one season is dry and colder, while the other one is humid and warm. The average temperature is 20.5°C (69°F)World Weather Brasilia. The month with highest average maximum temperature is September, at 28°C (82.9°F), whereas July has the lowest average maximum temperatures at 25°C (77.2°F). The lowest minimum average temperatures, on the other hand, are recorded during July, at 13°C (55.2°F), whereas the highest minimum average temperatures occur during November and December, at 18°C (63.5°F). Those, however, are monthly averages, and so observed temperatures sometimes fall outside of this range. The absolute minimum temperature recorded was 1.6°C (34°F) and the absolute maximum was 34.7°C (94.46ºF).
| Brasília* | |
|---|---|
| UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
Brasília\'s Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady Aparecida by Oscar Niemeyer | |
| State Party | Brazil
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| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | i, iv |
| Reference | 445 |
| Region† | South America |
| Inscription history | |
| Inscription | 1987 (11th Session) |
| * Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. † Region as classified by UNESCO. | |
The Brazilian capital is the only city in the world built in the 20th century to be awarded (in 1987) the status of Historical and Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, a specialized agency of the United Nations.
Brasília\'s economy is dominated by
(a) services (91% of local GDP, according to the IBGE):
(b) industries in the city include:
The main agricultural products produced in the city are coffee, guavas, strawberries, oranges, lemons, papayas, soy beans and mangoes. It has over 110,000 cows and it exports woodproducts worldwide.
Federal District, where Brasilia is located, GDP is about US$69,844 billion, according to the IBGE. The participation in the Brazilian GDP is 3.8%.Government\'s webpage
Federal District has the largest per capita income of Brazil (about US$ 27,610 per person, according to the IBGE). Brasília per capita income is believed to be much higher.
Brasília hosts a wide range of services such as hospitals, schools, fitness clubs, clubs, colleges, restaurants, cafes, etc. These services are, however, unevenly distributed.
The consumption of commercial energy at Brazil\'s capital was 924 (gwh), the industrial reached 337(gwh), and the residential reached 1,241(gwh). The total energy consumption was 3,319 (gwh).
The railways system is not well developed, with only 36 km. A fast-track train connecting Brasília to Goiânia was considered a few years ago but so far nothing has been decided on that matter. Furthermore, Brasília has a small subway system (41 km long). At the Federal District as of 2006, there were approximately 1 million vehicles running, for a population of about 2.455 million (according to IBGE).
There is a TV tower (224 meters high) located in the heart of the city.
The city’s planned design included specific areas for almost everything, including lodging – Hotels Sectors North and South. However, other areas are receiving new hotel facilities, such as the hotels and tourism Sector North, located on the shores of Lake Paranoá. Brasilia offers modern and comfortable hotels, including hotels managed by international networks; but it also offers cosy and modest inns, pensions and hostels.
Being a city that receives visitors from the whole of Brazil and the world, it offers a good network of restaurants with great diversity of food; from simple small restaurants, serving the authentic food of Central-Western areas of Brazil, to selected bistros.
Ministries Esplanade on the Monumental Axis
At one extremity of the Monumental Axis lies the Ministries Esplanade, an open area in downtown Brasília. The rectangular lawn area is surrounded by two eight-lane wide avenues where many important government buildings, monuments and memorials are located. This is the main body of the "airplane" shape of the city, as planned by Lúcio Costa. It resembles the National Mall, in Washington, D.C..
The National Congress Building
Brazil\'s bicameral National Congress consists of the Senate of Brazil (the upper house) and the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil (the lower house). Since the 1960s, the National Congress has its seat in Brasília. As most of the official buildings in the city, it was designed by Oscar Niemeyer following the style of modern Brazilian architecture. The semisphere to the left is the seat of the Senate, and the semisphere to the right is the seat of the Chamber of the Deputies. Between them there are two towers of offices. The Congress also occupies other surrounding buildings, some of them interconnected by a tunnel.
The building is located in the middle of the Monumental axis, the main avenue of the capital. In front of it there is a large lawn and a reflecting pool. The building faces the Praça dos Três Poderes, where the Palácio do Planalto and the Supreme Federal Court are located.
The Palácio da Alvorada is the official residence of the President of Brazil. The palace was designed, along with the rest of the city of Brasília, by Oscar Niemeyer and inaugurated in 1958.
One of the first structures built in the republic\'s new capital city, the "Alvorada" lies on a peninsula at the margins of Lake Paranoá. The principles of simplicity and modernity, that in the past characterized the great works of architecture, oriented Niemeyer\'s project. The viewer has an impression of looking at a glass box, softly landed on the ground with the support of thin external columns.
The building has an area of 7,000 m2 and three floors: basement, landing and second floor. On the basement level are located the auditorium, kitchen, laundry, medical center, and the administration. On the landing are located the rooms used by the presidency for official receptions. The second floor is the residential part of the palace, with four suites, two apartments and other private rooms.
The building has also a library, a heated Olympic-sized swimming pool, a music room, two dinning rooms and various meeting rooms. Located in adjacent buildings are the chapel and the heliport.
The Palácio do Planalto is the official workplace of the President of Brazil. It is located at the Praça dos Três Poderes in Brasília. As the seat of government, the term "o Planalto" is often used as a metonym for the executive branch of the government.
The main working office of the President of the Republic is in the Palácio do Planalto. The President and his family, however, do not live in it; the official residence of the President is the Palácio da Alvorada. Besides the President, a few high advisors also have offices in the "Planalto", including the Vice-President of Brazil and the Chief of Staff; the other Ministries are laid along the Esplanada dos Ministérios.
The architect of the Palácio do Planalto was Oscar Niemeyer, the "creator" of most of the important buildings in the new capital of Brasília. The idea was to project an image of simplicity and modernity using fine lines and waves to compose the columns and exterior structures.
The Palace is four stories high, and has an area of 36,000 m². Four other adjacent buildings are also part of the complex.
The Cultural Complex of the Republic ("Complexo Cultural da República" in Portuguese) is a cultural center located along the Monumental Axis, in the city of Brasília. It is formed by the National Library of Brasília and the National Museum of the Republic\'.
The National Library of Brasília (Biblioteca Nacional de Brasília in Portuguese) occupies an area of 14,000 m², consisting of reading and study rooms, auditorium and a collection of over 300,000 items.
The National Museum of the Republic (Museu Nacional da República in Portuguese) consists of a 14,500 m² exhibit area, two 780-seat auditoriums, and a laboratory. The space is mainly used to display temporary art exhibits.
Paranoá Lake is a giant artificial lake built in order to increase the amount of water available to the region. It holds the second largest marina in Brazil, and is home to the capital\'s wakeboard and windsurf practitioners.
The Juscelino Kubitschek bridge
The Juscelino Kubitschek bridge, also known as the \'President JK Bridge\' or the \'JK Bridge\', crosses Lake Paranoá in Brasília. It is named after Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira, former president of Brazil. It was designed by architect Alexandre Chan and structural engineer Mário Vila Verde. Chan won the Gustav Lindenthal Medal Bridge Awards for this project at the 2003 International Bridge Conference in Pittsburgh due to "...outstanding achievement demonstrating harmony with the environment, aesthetic merit and successful community participation".
It consists of three 200 foot tall asymmetrical steel arches that crisscross diagonally. With a length of 0.75 miles, it was completed in 2002 at a cost of US$56.8 million. The bridge has a pedestrian walkway and is accessible to bicyclists and skaters.
The Supreme Federal Tribunal at the Praça dos Três Poderes
Praça dos Três Poderes (Portuguese for Square of the Three Powers) is a plaza in Brasília. The name is derived from the encounter of the three powers around the plaza; the Executive, represented by the Palácio do Planalto (presidential office; the Legislative represented by the Congresso Nacional (National Congress); and the Judiciary, represented by the Supremo Tribunal Federal (Supreme Federal Court).
It is a tourist attraction in Brasília. It was designed by Lúcio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer as a place where the three powers would meet harmonically.
The Cathedral of Brasília in the capital of the Federative Republic of Brazil, is an expression of the architect Oscar Niemeyer. This concrete-framed hyperboloid structure, seems with its glass roof to be reaching up, open, to heaven. On 31 May 1970, the Cathedral’s structure was finished, and only the 70 m diameter of the circular area were visible. Niemeyer\'s project of Cathedral of Brasília is based in the hyperboloid of revolution which sections are asymmetric. The hyperboloid structure itself is a result of 16 identical assembled concrete columns. These columns, having hyperbolic section and weighing 90 t, represent two hands moving upwards to heaven. The Cathedral was dedicated on 31 May 1970.
The 1960 census counted almost 140,000 residents in the new Federal District; by 1970 this figure had grown to more than 537,000. In 2000 the population of the Brazilian Federal District stood at more than two million. Brasília\'s inhabitants include a foreign population of mostly embassies workers as well as large numbers of Brazilian migrants.
Traditional parties also take place throughout the year. In June, there are large festivals celebrating Catholic saints, such as Saint Anthony and Saint Peter, that are called "festas juninas", or June festival. Throughout the year there are local, national and international events spread through the city. Christmas is widely celebrated, and New Years Eve usually hosts major events.
Brasília is home to two major football teams:
The main football stadiums are the Estádio Mané Garrincha and the Serejão.
Brasília is one of the 18 remaining candidates to host games of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, for which Brazil is the host.
Brasília is considered to have one of the highest growth rates in Brazil. Its population increases an average of 2.82% each year. The vegetation surrounding the city is called "cerrado", the South American savanna. The main rivers surrounding the city are called Preto, Santo Antônio do Descoberto and São Bartolomeu.
The Human Development Index in the city is at 0.936 (developed nation level), and the illiteracy rate is around 4.35%.
National Library of Brasília.
Portuguese is the official national language, and thus the primary language taught in schools. But English and Spanish are part of the official high school curriculum.
It is the third busiest Brazilian airport in terms of passengers and aircraft movements. Because of its strategic location it is considered a civil aviation hub for the rest of the country. This makes for a large number of takeoffs and landings and it is not unusual for flights to be delayed in the holding pattern before landing. Following the airport\'s master plan, Infraero built a second runway, which was finished in 2006. In 2007, the airport handled 11,119,872 passengers Airport Statistics for 2007 http://www.infraero.gov.br/upload/arquivos/movi/mov.operac.1207.pdf. The main building\'s third floor, with 12 thousand square meters, has a panoramic deck, a food court, shops, four movie theaters with total capacity of 500 people, and space for exhibitions. All told there are 136 shop spaces at the Brasília Airport.
Brasília Metro is Brasília\'s underground metro system.
Nearby attractions include:
List of sister cities, designated by Sister Cities International:
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| Capitals of Brazilian states | |
|---|---|
| Brasília Federal Capital (DF) | |
| North | Belém (PA) · Boa Vista (RR) · Macapá (AP) · Manaus (AM) · Palmas (TO) · Porto Velho (RO) · Rio Branco (AC) |
| Northeast | Aracaju (SE) · Fortaleza (CE) · João Pessoa (PB) · Maceió (AL) · Natal (RN) · Recife (PE) · Salvador (BA) · São Luís (MA) · Teresina (PI) |
| Center-West | Campo Grande (MS) · Cuiabá (MT) · Goiânia (GO) |
| Southeast | Belo Horizonte (MG) · Rio de Janeiro (RJ) · São Paulo (SP) · Vitória (ES) |
| South | Curitiba (PR) · Florianópolis (SC) · Porto Alegre (RS) |
| World Heritage Sites in Brazil |
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| Atlantic Forest South-East Reserves · Brasília · Brazilian Atlantic Islands: Fernando de Noronha and Atol das Rocas Reserves · Central Amazon Conservation Complex · Cerrado Protected Areas: Chapada dos Veadeiros and Emas National Park · Discovery Coast Atlantic Forest Reserves · Historic Centre of São Luís · Historic Centre of Salvador de Bahia · Historic Centre of the Town of Diamantina · Historic Centre of the Town of Goiás · Historic Centre of the Town of Olinda · Historic Town of Ouro Preto · Iguaçu National Park · Pantanal Conservation Area · Pico do Jaraguá · Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Congonhas · Serra da Capivara National ParkShared with Argentina:Ruins of São Miguel das Missões (Jesuit Missions of the Guaranis) |
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