Brasília

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Brasília
Flag Seal
Nickname: Capital Federal
Location of Brasília
Coordinates: 15°46′S, 47°55′W
Region	Central-West
State	Distrito Federal
Founded	21 April 1960
Government
- Administrator	Ricardo Hernane Pires
Area
- City	5,802 km²  (2,240.2 sq mi)
Elevation	1,172 m (3,845.1 ft)
Population (2004)[1]
- City	2,363,108
- Density	407/km² (1,054.1/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC (UTC-3)
Area code(s)	61
Website: http://www.brasilia.df.gov.br

Brasilia^a
UNESCO World Heritage Site

State Party	Brazil
Type	Cultural
Criteria	i, iv
Identification	#445
Regionb	Latin America and the Caribbean
Inscription History
Formal Inscription:	1987 11th Session
a Name as officially inscribed on the WH List b As classified officially by UNESCO

Brasília (IPA: [bɾaˈziliɐ]) is the capital city of Brazil, located in the Federal District, and coterminous (sharing the same borders) with it. Technically, by Brazilian law, it is not a traditional municipality.^[2] It has a population of about 2.3 million people and houses the main federal government buildings; Palácio do Planalto, Supreme Tribunal Court and the National Congress of Brazil. The Brazilian capital is the only city in the world built in the 20th century to be considered a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Inaugurated on the 21st of April, 1960, it was the result of a modern urban project designed by Lúcio Costa. When seen from above, the city resembles the shape of an airplane or a butterfly^[3][1].

Contents 1 Background 2 Climate 3 History 4 Demographics 5 Tourist attractions 5.1 Famous landmarks 5.2 Churches 5.3 Museums 5.4 Parks 5.5 Thematic Parks 6 Culture 6.1 Cultural Calendar 6.2 Bands from Brasilia 7 Sports 7.1 Soccer 7.2 Car racing 8 Social Data 9 Education 9.1 Universities 10 Economy 10.1 Infrastructure 11 Famous Places Nearby 12 Gallery 13 Notable people in Brasília 14 Sister cities 15 References 16 External links

[edit] Background

The city was built to bring the capital, previously Rio de Janeiro to Brazil's center-west and closer to the other regions. This was done using a large workforce, originating from throughout the country. Brasília is known, internationally, for having applied the principles established in the Athens Charter (1943).

[edit] Climate

Brasília lies within a tropical region, with the seasons being defined according to the degree of humidity in the air: one season is dry and colder, while the other is humid and hot. The average temperature is of 20.5 °C (69 °F). October is the hottest month of the year, with higher temperatures of 29 °C (85 °F); while July the coldest, with lower temperatures of 13 °C (55 °F).

[edit] History

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 geographically central location within the country 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, an Italian priest 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.

[edit] Demographics

See Demographics of Brazil

Brasilia is a new city containing many migrants from all regions of Brazil. It reflects Brazil being cultural and ethnically diverse.

[edit] Tourist attractions

[edit] Famous landmarks

• The Monumental Axis

Also known as the "Ministries Esplanade", the Monumental Axis is an open-area garden surrounded by two eight-lane wide avenues where many important government buildings are located.

• The Palácio da Alvorada

The palace is the official residence of the Brazilian president.

• The Palácio do Planalto

This is the headquarters of executive branch of the Brazilian Government, where the Presidential office is located.

• The Cultural Complex of the Republic

Open to the public since December 2006, it is part of the original masterplan of the capital.

• The JK Bridge

Inaugurated in 2002, the JK Bridge is the third bridge built to connect the city’s central area to the South Lake.

• The Itamaraty Palace

This famous landmark is the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Relations of Brazil.

• The Lúcio Costa Space

This space holds a miniature plan of the city of Brasília. It is located below street level under the Three Powers Square, at the end point of the Ministries Plateau.

• The National Congress of Brazil

As the headquarters of Brazilian Legislative Powers, the National Congress is composed of the Federal Senate – on the left side and represented by the "concave architectural dish" - and the Chamber of Deputies – located on the right side and represented by the "convex dish". There are hourly guided visits, going through both session halls and the museums in both houses of the Legislative Power.

• Paranoá Lake

This 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 Palace of Justice

This is the headquarters for the Ministry of Justice. There are guided visits to its Black Hall, the Portraits' Room, Library and Internal Garden.

• The Praça dos Três Poderes (“Three Powers Square”)

Praça dos Três Poderes concentrates some of the most important and significant buildings in the work and career of Oscar Niemeyer – the Planalto Palace, headquarters of Brazilian Presidency; the National Congress, hosting the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate; and the Higher Courts of Justice. The Square also hosts: the “Panteão da Pátria” (the Fatherland Banner), the Lúcio Costa Space and three important sculptures – “Pombal”, by Niemeyer; “Justice”, by Alfredo Ceschiatti; and “Os Candangos”, by Bruno Giorgi. In the central plaza a National Banner with 286 square meters is hold by a 100-meter high pole. It is located at the end of the Ministries Plateau.

• The Supreme Federal Tribunal

It is the headquarters of the Country’s Judicial Power, the Higher Court holds a vast library with approximately 80 thousand volumes. Guided visits are available on Sundays, from 10 am to 4 pm, and last around 30 minutes – going through the Sessions Hall, the Noble Hall and three Museums.

• The Television Tower

A Lúcio Costa project, with 224 meters of height. From up there, visitors can view the Pilot Plan, from a platform 75 meters up from the ground, with capacity for 150 people. In late afternoons, many visitors come up the Tower to view Brasilia’s the beautiful sunset. Around the Tower visitors find the largest and most traditional handcrafts fair in Brasilia. Right across from it there is a sculpture to celebrate the "Space Era", by Alexandre Wakenwith and, on a lower platform, at a height of 25 meters, visitors find the Gems Museum.

[edit] Churches

• The Metropolitan Cathedral of Brasilia

Designed by Oscar Niemeyer, it was inaugurated in 1970. With a round shape, and being structured around 16 curved pillars filled with beautiful stained glass works, designed by Marianne Peretti – their disposition ensures natural lighting into the aisle, built below street level. Around the church, in the outside area, visitors can see Alfredo Ceschiatti’s sculptures – the four evangelists – and inside, suspended angels. There are also paintings by Di Cavalcanti, representing the stages of the Passion of Christ, and paintings by Athos Bulcão.

• The Dom Bosco Sanctuary

It is surrounded by 16-meter high arches that support immense stained glass works with many tones of blue. Filled with lighter points of blue, they give viewers the impression of seeing a star spangled sky and of changing places according to the position of the Sun. The central chandelier contains 7,400 Murano glass cups.

• The Temple of the Legião da Boa Vontade ("Good Will Legion")

Open 24 hours a day, the construction in the shape of a pyramid has its floors decorated with granite spirals. On the temple’s top ceiling, a 40-cm and 21-kg crystal stone renders a positive energy to the temple, as idealized by its designers. There is also an Egyptian Room, an art gallery and a gifts store.

[edit] Museums

• The Central Bank’s Values Museum

It offers a permanent exhibition of national and foreign coins and paper money. It also hosts an exhibition on gold mining showing the largest gold stone found in Brazil, weighing 62 kg.

• The Tancredo Neves Memorial

Monument to freedom and democracy, it celebrates national heroes and especially ex-president Tancredo Neves. The project was designed by Oscar Niemeyer and hosts a collection of great artists, among them Athos Bulcão, João Câmara and Marianne Peretti.

• The JK Memorial

As a highlight of the Monumental Axle area, this is a homage to the conceiver and founder of Brasilia, President Juscelino Kubitschek. The memorial’s halls host the museum – with pictures, documents and personal objects related to the life of JK - and the Mortuary Chamber, with the ex-president’s tomb.

• National Museum of Gems

It hosts a permanent exhibition of Brazilian gems and crystals. It is located inside the TV Tower Panoramic Hall, in the Monumental Axle.

• Banco do Brasil Cultural Center – CCBB

It hosts temporary exhibits, art shows and theater and dance shows. It also hosts a snack bar, a gifts store and an auditorium, where this Cultural Center hosts debates on a wide range of issues, including reading tables and other events.

• The Press Museum

This museum’s greatest highlight is the printing press used by the famous Brazilian writer, Machado de Assis, who worked as book printer during his youth. There are also exemplars of the Official Daily in which the “Lei Áurea” (the Law ending with slavery in Brazil) and the Republic Proclamation Act were published in the late 19th century.

• Indigenous Peoples Memorial

It hosts indigenous utilitarian – such as ceramics, vessels and hammocks – and ritual – “cocares” (head accessories used by Brazilian tribes) and collars – works made by indigenous tribes from all over Brazil. The museum is opened from Tuesday to Friday, from 9 am to 5 pm, and on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 am to 5 pm.

[edit] Parks

• The City Park – Sarah Kubitschek

Located inside the city’s Pilot Plan, the “Parque da Cidade” (City Park”), extends over four million square meters. It includes landscape works of Burle Marx, and wall tiles that decorate restrooms in the Park designed by Athos Bulcão. Equipped with sports courts, a horse track, a racing kart track, skate tracks, playgrounds for children, bicycle tracks and trails for walks and jogging, the City Park attracts hundreds of people everyday, especially on weekends.

• The Brasilia Botanical Gardens

It was founded in March 1985 and since then has been through many reformation works to comply with its original philosophical – to be a sample of the “cerrado” (the dry pasture vegetation typical of Central Brazil) landscape -, and technical requirements – to become a space dedicated to research, environmental education and leisure for the city’s population. It offers to visitors the typical vegetation of the “cerrado” area, trails for walks, a belvedere, from where visitors can see almost all the park’s area, and a Visitors Center, which offers support and information to those interested in knowing its attractions. There are, for instance, gardens with native and exotic plants, all of which are identified with signaling tags, including also some areas for picnics. It is opened from Tuesday to Sunday, from 9 am to 5 pm.

• The Brasilia National Park

It extends over 30 thousand hectares. It is known by locals as “Água Mineral” (Mineral Water) – due to its springs and pools of running water formed out of water pools that emerge from the margins of Acampamento Stream. Besides its natural pools, there is also two trails for walks: the Capivara Trail, being 1,3 km long, and which may be covered in 20 minutes; and the Cristal Água Trail, which requires an one-hour walk to cover its 5-km extension. On calmer days, it is possible to see specimen from the local fauna, such as armadillos, monkeys and “capybaras” (a local large rodent mammal). The Park is opened all through the year, but its best season is between May and October. It is opened from 8 am to 4 pm, and visitors may pay a fee to get it.

• The Imperial Plateau Park

50 km away from Brasilia, the Imperial Plateau is located inside an “APA” – an Environmental Protection Area. The guided tour goes along trails and waterfalls, with halts for bathing and diving. The tour goes from 9 am to 5:30 pm, including transportation and lunch. It requires booking with antecedence, and visitors should wear sneakers, hat or cap, and solar protectors, bringing also light food for intervals, before and after lunch.

[edit] Thematic Parks

• The Brasilia Zoo

It occupies an 140-hectare area, near the Wild Life Sanctuary of Riacho Fundo, with 440 hectares, and the Birds Park, with 110 hectares, and all of them are managed by the Ecological Pole Foundation of Brasilia (FunPEB), comprising a total area of 690 hectares. The zoo hosts approximately 1,300 animals including birds, reptiles and mammals, in a total of 253 species, especially those that represent the original South American fauna – some of which live under the threat of extinction. The tour inside the Zoo may also be covered by car. The Zoo was not intended to be a place only for occasional visitations, but also for a deeper interaction with nature, the preservation of threatened species, environmental research and education. Besides all these animals, the zoo also offers snack bars, an arena theater, auditorium, a small library and also a Taxidermy Museum, including also wide and greenish areas protected under the shade of trees. and they suck

• Bay Park

Water park, with six water toboggans – including an outdoors, 20-meter high one, and also an outdoors, 35-meter high one -, including also wavy pools, an artificial river with running streams and pools for children.

[edit] Culture

[edit] Cultural Calendar

Traditional parties also take place throughout the year. In June, there are large parties celebrating Saints, such as Saint Anthony and Saint Peter, that are called "festas juninas", or June festival. Over the year there are local, national and international events spread through the city. Christmas is largely celebrated, and New Years Eve usually hosts major events.

[edit] Bands from Brasilia

• Capital Inicial - Brazilian pop
• Legiao Urbana - Brazilian pop/alternative
• Paralamas do Sucesso - Brazilian Pop
• Plebe Rude - Brazilian pop-rock
• Raimundos - Brazilian Rock
• Natiruts - Reggae

[edit] Sports

[edit] Soccer

Brasilia is home to two major soccer teams:

• Brasiliense Futebol Clube
• Sociedade Esportiva do Gama
• The main football stadiums are the Estádio Mané Garrincha and the Serejão.

[edit] Car racing

• There are many car races throughout the year, especially at the Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet.

[edit] Social Data

Brasilia is considered to have one of the highest growth rates in Brazil, increasing its size by 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 Antonio do Descoberto and Sao Bartolomeu. There is an artificial lake called Paranoa.

The Human Development Index in the city is at 0.844 (developed nation level), and the illiteracy rate is around 4.35%. In Brasilia, so as in Brazil, voting is a national duty, not a right, and not voting is considered a violation of the law. Brasilia itself holds 1,518,437 voters, as of 2002, according to the IBGE.

[edit] Education

[edit] Universities

• Universidade de Brasília - University of Brasília - (UnB)
• Universidade Católica de Brasília - (UCB)
• Centro Universitário de Brasília (UniCEUB)
• Centro Universitário do Distrito Federal (UniDF)
• O Centro Universitário UNIEURO
• Instituto de Educação Superior de Brasília (IESB)
• União Pioneira da Integração Social (UPIS)
• Universidade Paulista (UniP)

[edit] Economy

Brasilia's participation in the Brazilian GDP is 1.8%^[4] The main agricultural products produced in the city are Coffee, Guava, Orange, Lemon, Papaya, Soy beans and Mango. It has 110,157 cows and it exports woodproducts worldwide.

The most important industries in the city are construction, publishing, steel transformation, and most recently, recycling, pharmaceuticals and information technology. Irmãos Gravia, Via Construções, União Química and Latasa are a few examples of companies based in the city. The national government is by far the largest employer, accounting for around 40% of the city jobs. Government jobs include all levels, from the federal police to diplomacy, from communication services to the armed forces.

[edit] Infrastructure

The consumption of commercial energy at Brazil's capital was 924(Gwh), the industrial reached 337(Gwh), and the residential reached 1,241(Ghw). The total energy consumption was 3,319(Ghw).^{[citation needed]} The railways system is not developed, with only 36 km. However, the city has a large subway system spread throughout the Distrito Federal. The total extension of Brasilia's paved roads is 1,855.5 km (843mi), with 44% of all its roads paved.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Famous Places Nearby

Nearby attractions include:

• Pirenópolis - an old Portuguese colonial town surrounded by several waterfalls.
• Chapada dos Veadeiros - A National Park with plenty of cerrado wildlife and spectacular waterfalls.
• Itiquira waterfall - this beautiful 168 m-high warterfall is little more than 100 km from Brasilia
• Rio Quente Resorts - The biggest Natural Hotsprings resort of the world. Located about 360 km (225mi) away from the city.

[edit] Gallery

Brazil's National Flag	Senate	Procuradoria Geral da República	Palácio do Itamaraty (Itamaraty Palace)
Esplanada dos Ministérios (Ministries Esplanade)

[edit] Notable people in Brasília

See List of notable people in Brasília

• Jay Pan ROKK

[edit] Sister cities

List of sister cities, designated by Sister Cities International:

• Rome, Italy

[edit] References

1. ^ http://www.ibge.gov.br - IBGE demographics
2. ^ http://www.aboutbrasilia.com/ About Brasilia
3. ^ http://www.infobrasilia.com.br/lucio.htm
4. ^ . Government's webpage http://www.distritofederal.df.gov.br/005/00502001.asp?ttCD_CHAVE=1273

[edit] External links

Find more information on Brasília by searching Wikipedia's sister projects
	Dictionary definitions from Wiktionary
	Textbooks from Wikibooks
	Quotations from Wikiquote
	Source texts from Wikisource
	Images and media from Commons
	News stories from Wikinews
	Learning resources from Wikiversity

• Brasília travel guide from Wikitravel
• About Brasilia
• Brasília e Região Convention & Visitors Bureau
• (Portuguese) Official Brasília site
• (Portuguese) GuiaBSB - The digital guide of Brasília
• (Portuguese) [http://www.candango.com.br/ About Brasilia

• Maps and aerial photos Coordinates: -15.8° -47.9°
  • Mapping from Multimap or GlobalGuide or Google Maps
  • Aerial image from TerraServer
  • Satellite image from WikiMapia