Panorama of the Brasília skyline

From left to right:

• Theater: Teatro Nacional Cláudio Santoro
• Ministeries: Esplanada dos Ministérios
• Cathedral: Catedral Metropolitana Nossa Senhora Aparecida
• Museum: Museu Nacional Honestino Guimarães
• Library: Biblioteca Nacional de Brasília Leonel de Moura Brizola
• Banco do Brasil headquarters
• Busstation: Rodoviária do Plano Piloto

Cláudio Santoro National Theater

The Cláudio Santoro National Theater (Teatro Nacional Cláudio Santoro) is a multi-theater building in Brasília, Brazil. It was designed by Oscar Niemeyer in the Modern architectural style. Construction began on July 30, 1960, and the building was completed in 1966. Built in the shape of a truncated pyramid, it is the largest building in Brasilia designed by Niemeyer specifically for the arts. The building was closed for renovation in 1976, and was reopened on April 21, 1981.

The National Theater is operated by Secretary of Culture of the Federal District and is home to three venues; the 60-seat Alberto Nepomuceno theater, the 407-seat Martins Pena theater, and the 1,407 seat Villa-Lobos theater. The complex also includes an exhibition gallery that is accessible to the public.

Construction of the theater was started on July 30, 1960. The building was structurally complete by January 30, 1961, but construction was then interrupted until early 1966. The Martins-Pena theater was opened on April 21, 1966, and was used for ten years until it was closed on September 4, 1976 during completion of the complex.

Construction was completed by March 1979, and the Villa-Lobos theatre was opened with a concert conducted by Cláudio Santoro. The Martins-Pena theater was reopened on March 7, and the Alberto Nepomuceno theatre was opened on March 8. On December 1, 1979, the entire complex was closed again to complete renovations, and construction began on an annex which would include offices, rehearsal rooms, and galleries.

The complex was reopened on April 21, 1981, and an annex was opened on June 24, 1981. The theatre was renamed Claudio Santoro National Theater on September 1, 1989, in honor of the Brazilian composer and violinist.

See: wikipedia

Monumental Axis

The Monumental Axis ("Eixo Monumental" in Portuguese) is a central avenue in Brasília's city design.

The avenue begins on the National Congress of Brazil building and is considered part of the DF-002 road. Its first section is known as "Ministries Esplanade" ("Esplanada dos Ministérios"), as it is surrounded by ministries buildings. Many important government buildings, monuments and memorials are located on the Monumental Axis.

A common urban legend persists that the Monumental Axis is the widest road in the world, where "[100 to 160] cars can drive side by side". This is untrue, as the road consists of two avenues with six lanes on either side; a total of twelve lanes. However, the street has been featured in the Guinness Book of Records as having the widest central reservation of a dual carriageway in the world.

See: wikipedia

Cathedral of Brasília

The Cathedral of Brasília (Catedral Metropolitana Nossa Senhora Aparecida- "Metropolitan Cathedral of Our Lady of Aparecida") is the Roman Catholic cathedral serving Brasília, Brazil, and serves as the seat of the Archdiocese of Brasília. It was designed by Oscar Niemeyer, and was completed and dedicated on May 31, 1970. The cathedral is a hyperboloid structure constructed from 16 concrete columns, weighing 90 tons each.

In the square access to the cathedral, are four 3-meter tall bronze sculptures representing the four Evangelists created by sculptor Dante Croce in 1968. A 20-meter tall bell tower containing four large bells donated by Spanish residents of Brazil and cast in Miranda de Ebro also stands outside the cathedral, to the right as visitors face the entrance. At the entrance of the cathedral is a pillar with passages from the life of Mary, mother of Jesus, painted by Athos.

A 12-meter wide, 40-centimeter deep reflecting pool surrounds the cathedral roof, helping to cool the cathedral. Visitors pass under this pool when entering the cathedral.

The baptistry is to the left of the entrance, and can be entered either from the cathedral or via a spiral staircase from the entrance plaza. The walls of the oval baptistery are covered in ceramic tiles painted in 1977 by Athos Bulcão. Offices for the Archdiocese of Brasilia were completed in 2007 next to the cathedral. The 3,000-square-metre building connects directly to the cathedral underground.

Visitors enter into the cathedral through a dark tunnel and emerge into a bright space with a glass roof. The outer roof of the cathedral is composed of sixteen pieces of fiberglass, each 10 meters wide at the base and 30 meters long inserted between the concrete pillars. Under this is suspended a 2,000-square-meter stained glass work originally created in 1990 by Marianne Peretti, in shades of blue, green, white, and brown.

Inside the cathedral over the nave are sculptures of three angels, suspended by steel cables. The shortest is 2.22 meters long and weighs 100 kilograms, the middle one 3.4 meters long and weighs 200 kilograms, and the largest is 4.25 meters long and weighs 300 kilograms. The sculptures are by Alfredo Ceschiatti, with the collaboration of Dante Croce in 1970. The altar was donated by Pope Paul VI and the image of the patron saint Our Lady of Aparecida is a replica of the original which is in Aparecida - São Paulo. The Way of the Cross is a work of Di Cavalcanti.

The Cathedral of Brasilia, officially the Metropolitan Cathedral of Our Lady of Aparecida (Catedral Metropolitana Nossa Senhora Aparecida), dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary under her title of Our Lady of Aparecida, proclaimed by the Church as Queen and Patroness of Brazil, was designed by the architect Oscar Niemeyer.

This concrete-framed hyperboloid structure, appears with its glass roof to be reaching up, open, to heaven. Most of the cathedral is below ground, with only the 70-meter diameter 42-meter roof of the cathedral, the ovoid roof of the baptistry, and the bell tower visible above ground. The shape of the roof is based in a hyperboloid of revolution with asymmetric sections. The hyperboloid structure consists of 16 identical concrete columns assembled on site. These columns, having hyperbolic section and weighing 90 tonnes, represent two hands moving upwards to heaven.

The cornerstone was laid on September 12, 1958, and the structure was finished on April 21, 1960, with only the roof structure visible above ground. Once the presidential term of Juscelino Kubitschek ended, the big push to finish many structures in Brasilia stalled. Although it is likely that Kubitschek intended the cathedral as an "ecumenical cathedral" to be paid for by the state and open to all faiths, governments after that did not provide funding, and the building was eventually turned over to the Catholic Church to complete. The cathedral was consecrated on October 12, 1968 (still with no roof), and was officially opened by Cardinal D. Eugenio Salles on May 31, 1970. The ovoid baptistry was dedicated on October 5, 1977, and the cathedral was declared a national historic and artistic monument on July 15, 1990.

The cathedral sees some 1,000,000 visitors each year.

See: wikipedia

National Museum Honestino Guimarães

The National Museum Honestino Guimarães is a Brazilian museum in Brasília. The name was given in memory Honestino Guimarães.

The museum, which has a dome shape, and the National Library Leonel de Moura Brizola, were designed by the Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer and was inaugurated on 15 of December of 2006, on the day that the architect celebrated its 99 birthday.

The museum has an area of ​​14,500 square meters and was opened with an exhibition on the work of Niemeyer, "Niemeyer & Niemeyer and Brasília - World Heritage".

The museum and the library form the João Herculino Cultural Complex of the Republic.

See: wikipedia

Biblioteca Nacional de Brasília Leonel de Moura Brizola

The Brasilia National Library (BNB) or National Brasilia Leonel de Moura Brizola Library is a library Brazil, in the city of Brasilia and is part of the Republic Cultural Complex located on the Esplanade of Ministries.

The National Library of Brasilia (BNB) was conceived in the original plan of Brasilia, signed by Lúcio Costa in the late 50s of last century, when the town planner designed the federal capital with Oscar Niemeyer and other architects. The first attempts of the actual creation date back to Decree No. 927-A of 27 April 1962, signed by Prime Minister Tancredo Neves, from the Ministry of Education and Culture, which was commissioned to study measures necessary for the creation, organization and installation of the Library. The decree states, in its first lines, the impossibility of the capital of the Republic without the services of a national library.

The building of the National Library of Brasilia was delivered to the population at the end of 2006, however, without the right conditions for its operation. The project required a process of planning and installation that led to the opening to the public on December 12, 2008.

See: wikipedia

Banco do Brasil

Banco do Brasil S.A. (English: Bank of Brazil) is the largest Brazilian and Latin American bank by assets, and the third by market value. The bank, headquartered in Brasília, was founded in 1808 and is the oldest active bank in Brazil, and one of the oldest banks in continuous operation in the world. It is not the country's central bank.

Banco do Brasil is controlled by the Brazilian government but its stock is traded at the São Paulo Stock Exchange and its management follows standard international banking practices (Basel Accords). Since 2000 it is one of the four most-profitable Brazilian banks (the others being Itaú Unibanco, Bradesco, and Santander Brasil) and holds a strong leadership position in retail banking.

Banco do Brasil was founded by then prince regent John (later King John VI of Portugal) to finance the kingdom's public debt when he moved from Europe to Brazil, in 1808. It went bankrupt two times in history: one at independence in 1821, when John VI returned to Portugal taking with him some of the bank's assets, and the second in 1898.

From 1821 to 1964 Banco do Brasil had sometimes performed tasks that exceeded its role as a traditional commercial bank, issuing currency, having the monopoly of currency exchange transactions and serving as National Treasury holder for the government. Such tasks were gradually given to other governmental institutions, mainly with the creation of the Central Bank of Brazil in 1964 and the separation from the National Treasury in 1987.

From 1992 onwards it was restructured as a commercial bank, using its huge geographic distribution and credit assets to leverage its redesign as a "normal" bank. In the process, tens of thousands of workers were laid off.

After decades of losses financed by the public treasury, the bank became very profitable and is one of the key structures used by the government to finance public programs, like DRS (Sustainable Regional Development).

In November 2013, The Banker ranked Banco de Brasil as the top bank in Brazil based on Tier 1 capital.

See: wikipedia

Rodoviária do Plano Piloto

The main city bus terminal of the Federal District receives about 700,000 passengers per day. In addition to the bus lines circulating within the limits of the Federal District, the terminal also receives long-distance lines, linking Brasilia to neighboring municipalities in Goiás.

It also contains the Central Station of the Brasilia Metro.

See: wikipedia

Sculpture (2008) of Darlan Rosa in front of Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Brasília

The Casulo Project - A fleet of outdoor sculptures in CCBB-DF.

The Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (CCBB) Brasilia hosts the newest project from the artist Darlan Rosa: an interactive sculpture park designed for children and adolescents so that enchant adults.

The works Marquise, Caterpillar, Hive and Cocoon, which gives its name to the project, could not be anywhere else but at CCBB Brasília, gracing the vast garden that surrounds the absolute concrete building, through which every year dozens of plays, exhibits, films and other cultural events, allowing Brasilia living with art.

Casulo is night, is day, is child and adult, lit by colored lights that give life to the curves carved in steel spherical shapes. It is with the support and a partnership Brasilprev and joy and the smile of a child, the Cultural Center Bank of Brazil once again innovates and embraces a project not only unprecedented but permanent, which is here to stay and provide the public Brasiliense one more opportunity to see the world in a simple and colorful perspective of childhood.

See: Darlan Rosa

Darlan Rosa

Born in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, Darlan Rosa began his artistic apprenticeship at early age with his father, a marble sculptor. In 1967, he relocated to Brasilia, Brazil´s modern capital, where he currently lives and works. Rosa´s artistic trajectory includes 25 solo exhibitions in Brasilia and in main Brazilian state capitals, where he has several public art currently installed. Among others, he has presented his artwork in renowned exhibitions such as the Sao Paulo International Biennal of 1976. Outside Brazil, his work has been exhibited multiple times in countries such as France, El Salvador, and Jordan. In addition, Rosa has taught art at the University Centro Unificado de Brasilia (Ceub) and at the University of Brasilia (UnB).

See: Darlan Rosa

Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil

The Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (CCBB, in English: Bank of Brazil Cultural Center) is a cultural organization of the Banco do Brasil based in Brazil with centers in Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, São Paulo and Belo Horizonte.

The CCBB began in 1986. It opened in Rio de Janeiro in 1989, Brasilia in 2000, São Paulo in 2001 and Belo Horizonte in 2013. Its three centers in Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, and São Paulo are among the top hundred most visited art museums in the world. In 2013, the three centers combined had 4.4 million visitors: 2,034,397 visitors in Rio de Janeiro, 1,468,818 visitors in Brasilia, and 931,639 visitors in São Paulo.

The largest of the CCBB institutions is located in Rio de Janeiro, in an art-deco building designed by Francisco Joaquim Bethencourt da Silva. Similar in size is the São Paulo institution, designed in the same style by Hippolyto Pujol. The smallest of the three complexes the Brasilia branch, designed by Alba Rabelo Cunha. Both the Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo branches contain theatres, cinemas, and multiple art galleries.

See: wikipedia

Garden of the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Brasília

Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil

The Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (CCBB, in English: Bank of Brazil Cultural Center) is a cultural organization of the Banco do Brasil based in Brazil with centers in Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, São Paulo and Belo Horizonte.

The CCBB began in 1986. It opened in Rio de Janeiro in 1989, Brasilia in 2000, São Paulo in 2001 and Belo Horizonte in 2013. Its three centers in Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, and São Paulo are among the top hundred most visited art museums in the world. In 2013, the three centers combined had 4.4 million visitors: 2,034,397 visitors in Rio de Janeiro, 1,468,818 visitors in Brasilia, and 931,639 visitors in São Paulo.

The largest of the CCBB institutions is located in Rio de Janeiro, in an art-deco building designed by Francisco Joaquim Bethencourt da Silva. Similar in size is the São Paulo institution, designed in the same style by Hippolyto Pujol. The smallest of the three complexes the Brasilia branch, designed by Alba Rabelo Cunha. Both the Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo branches contain theatres, cinemas, and multiple art galleries.

See: wikipedia

Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Brasília

Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil

The Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (CCBB, in English: Bank of Brazil Cultural Center) is a cultural organization of the Banco do Brasil based in Brazil with centers in Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, São Paulo and Belo Horizonte.

The CCBB began in 1986. It opened in Rio de Janeiro in 1989, Brasilia in 2000, São Paulo in 2001 and Belo Horizonte in 2013. Its three centers in Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, and São Paulo are among the top hundred most visited art museums in the world. In 2013, the three centers combined had 4.4 million visitors: 2,034,397 visitors in Rio de Janeiro, 1,468,818 visitors in Brasilia, and 931,639 visitors in São Paulo.

The largest of the CCBB institutions is located in Rio de Janeiro, in an art-deco building designed by Francisco Joaquim Bethencourt da Silva. Similar in size is the São Paulo institution, designed in the same style by Hippolyto Pujol. The smallest of the three complexes the Brasilia branch, designed by Alba Rabelo Cunha. Both the Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo branches contain theatres, cinemas, and multiple art galleries.

See: wikipedia

Panorama of Museu Nacional de Brasília

National Museum Honestino Guimarães

The National Museum Honestino Guimarães is a Brazilian museum in Brasília. The name was given in memory Honestino Guimarães.

The museum, which has a dome shape, and the National Library Leonel de Moura Brizola, were designed by the Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer and was inaugurated on 15 of December of 2006, on the day that the architect celebrated its 99 birthday.

The museum has an area of ​​14,500 square meters and was opened with an exhibition on the work of Niemeyer, "Niemeyer & Niemeyer and Brasília - World Heritage".

The museum and the library form the João Herculino Cultural Complex of the Republic.

See: wikipedia

Honestino Guimarães

Honestino Monteiro Guimarães (Itaberaí - Goiás, March 28, 1947 - circa October 10, 1973) was a Brazilian student leader. The Geology student, was president of the Student Federation of the University of Brasilia (FEUB). Because of his activism in the student movement he was arrested four times. After his fourth arrest in 1973, he never returned. His death certificate was handed over his family in 1996, twenty three years later and was still incomplete: the cause of death was not in the document.

He was officially pardoned only on September 20, 2013, when also his death certificate was completed, making clear that his death was caused by acts of violence suffered while in custody of the Brazilian State.

The case Honestino was under investigation by the Brazilian Truth Commission, which investigates deaths and disappearances that occurred during the Brazilian military dictatorship.

See: wikipedia

Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (MNBA) in Buenos Aires

Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (MNBA)

The National Museum of Fine Arts is an Argentine art museum in Buenos Aires, located in the Recoleta section of the city.

History

Argentine painter and art critic Eduardo Schiaffino was the first director of the MNBA, which opened on 25 December 1895 in a building on Florida Street which today houses the Galerías Pacífico shopping mall. In 1909 the museum moved to a building in Plaza San Martín, originally erected in Paris as the Argentine Pavilion for the 1889 Paris exhibition, and later dismantled and brought to Buenos Aires. In its new home the museum became part of the International Centenary Exhibition held in Buenos Aires in 1910. Following the demolition of the Pavilion in 1932 as part of the remodelling of Plaza San Martín, the museum was transferred to its present location in 1933, a building originally constructed in 1870 as a drainage pumping station and adapted to its current use by architect Alejandro Bustillo.

The museum was modernized both physically and in its collections during the 1955–64 tenure of director Jorge Romero Brest. A temporary exhibits pavilion was opened in 1961, and the museum acquired a large volume of modern art though its collaboration with the Torcuato di Tella Institute, a leading promoter of local, avant-garde artists, and elsewhere; a Contemporary Argentine Art pavilion was later opened in 1980. This 1,536 square metres hall is the largest of 34 currently in use at the museum, which totals 4,610 square metres of exhibit space. Its permanent collection totals 688 major works and over 12,000 sketches, fragments, potteries and other minor works. The institution also maintains a specialized library, totalling 150,000 volumes, as well as a public auditorium.

The ground floor of the museum holds 24 exhibit halls housing a fine international collection of paintings from the Middle Ages up to the 20th century, together with the museum's art history library. The first floor's 8 exhibit halls contain a collection of paintings by some of the most important 20th-century Argentine painters, including Antonio Berni, Ernesto de la Cárcova, Benito Quinquela Martín, Eduardo Sívori, Alfredo Guttero, Raquel Forner, Xul Solar and Lino Enea Spilimbergo. The second floor's two halls, completed in 1984, hold an exhibition of photographs and two sculpture terraces, as well as most of the institution's administrative and technical departments.

See: wikipedia, mnba

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after Greater São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the continent's southeastern coast. The Greater Buenos Aires conurbation, which also includes several Buenos Aires Province districts, constitutes the third-largest conurbation in Latin America, with a population of around fifteen and a half million.

The city of Buenos Aires is neither part of Buenos Aires Province nor the Province's capital; rather, it is an autonomous district. In 1880, after decades of political infighting, Buenos Aires was federalised and removed from Buenos Aires Province. The city limits were enlarged to include the towns of Belgrano and Flores; both are now neighborhoods of the city. The 1994 constitutional amendment granted the city autonomy, hence its formal name: Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires (Autonomous City of Buenos Aires). Its citizens first elected a Chief of Government (i.e. Mayor) in 1996; before, the Mayor was directly appointed by the President of the Republic.

Buenos Aires is, along with Mexico City and São Paulo, one of the three Latin American cities considered an 'alpha city' by the study GaWC5. Buenos Aires, Argentina has the third best quality of life of Latin American cities. Buenos Aires' quality of life is ranked 81st in the world, with its per capita income among the three highest in the region. It is the most visited city in South America (ahead of Rio de Janeiro) and the second most visited city across Spanish Latin America (behind Mexico City). It is also one of the most important, largest and most populous of South American capitals, often referred to as the Paris of South America.

Buenos Aires is a top tourist destination, and is known for its European-style architecture and rich cultural life, with the highest concentration of theatres in the world. Buenos Aires held the 1st Pan American Games in 1951 and the city also had two venues in the 1978 FIFA World Cup. Buenos Aires will host the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics.

People from Buenos Aires are referred to as porteños (people of the port). The city is the birthplace of pope Francis (former Archbishop of Buenos Aires), and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands.

See: wikipedia

Oscar Niemeyer Museum, Curitiba

Oscar Niemeyer Museum

The Oscar Niemeyer Museum is located in the city of Curitiba, in the state of Paraná, in Brazil. It was inaugurated in 2002 with the name Novo Museu or New Museum. With the conclusion of remodeling and the construction of a new annex, it was reinaugurated on July 8, 2003, with the current denomination to honor its famous architect who completed this project at 95 years of age. It is also known as Museu do Olho or Museum of the Eye, due to the design of the building.

The museum focuses on the visual arts, architecture and design. For its magnificence, beauty and for the importance of the collection, it represents a cultural institution of international significance. The complex of two buildings, installed in an area of 35 thousand square meters (of which 19 thousand are dedicated to exhibition space), it is a true example of architecture allied with art. The first building was designed by Oscar Niemeyer in 1967, faithful to the style of the time, and conceived as an educational institute. It was remodeled and adapted to function as a museum, for which Niemeyer designed the annex, reminiscent of an eye, imprinting it with a new characteristic identity.

The museum features many of Niemeyer's signature elements: bold geometric forms, sculptural curved volumes placed prominently to contrast with rectangular volumes, sinuous ramps for pedestrians, large areas of white painted concrete, and areas with vivid murals or paintings. A collaborator previously on Ibirapuera Park with landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx, Niemeyer's namesake museum is also within a garden designed by Burle Marx, and that within 144 thousand square meters of woodland. Though rooted in modern architecture since his involvement in the international style, Niemeyer's designs have much in common with postmodern architecture as well and this is as contemporary a building as the artwork it displays.

See: wikipedia

Art in the park of the Oscar Niemeyer Museum, Curitiba

Oscar Niemeyer Museum

The Oscar Niemeyer Museum is located in the city of Curitiba, in the state of Paraná, in Brazil. It was inaugurated in 2002 with the name Novo Museu or New Museum. With the conclusion of remodeling and the construction of a new annex, it was reinaugurated on July 8, 2003, with the current denomination to honor its famous architect who completed this project at 95 years of age. It is also known as Museu do Olho or Museum of the Eye, due to the design of the building.

The museum focuses on the visual arts, architecture and design. For its magnificence, beauty and for the importance of the collection, it represents a cultural institution of international significance. The complex of two buildings, installed in an area of 35 thousand square meters (of which 19 thousand are dedicated to exhibition space), it is a true example of architecture allied with art. The first building was designed by Oscar Niemeyer in 1967, faithful to the style of the time, and conceived as an educational institute. It was remodeled and adapted to function as a museum, for which Niemeyer designed the annex, reminiscent of an eye, imprinting it with a new characteristic identity.

The museum features many of Niemeyer's signature elements: bold geometric forms, sculptural curved volumes placed prominently to contrast with rectangular volumes, sinuous ramps for pedestrians, large areas of white painted concrete, and areas with vivid murals or paintings. A collaborator previously on Ibirapuera Park with landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx, Niemeyer's namesake museum is also within a garden designed by Burle Marx, and that within 144 thousand square meters of woodland. Though rooted in modern architecture since his involvement in the international style, Niemeyer's designs have much in common with postmodern architecture as well and this is as contemporary a building as the artwork it displays.

See: wikipedia

Palm tree (2007) - Elizabeth Titton

Elizabeth Titton

Artist born in São Paulo (1949), but living in Curitiba since 1957. Graduated in Business Administration from the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR, 1973) and in Painting from the School of Music and Fine Arts of Paraná (EMBAP, 1982).

Training Specialist Hospital Executives UFPR (1975) and in Sociology and Economics (Historical Perspectives Contemporary) from the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná (PUC-PR, 1988) and a Master of Education UFPR (2000). Was director (1984-1987) and a member of the Advisory Board (2007) Museum of Contemporary Art of Paraná (PR-MAC).

Creator of the "Pro-Build" (1988), an institution that still manages cultural space. In the 1970s and 1980s, attended different courses of artistic improvement and sculpture workshop (under the direction of Benito Elvo Damo) Creativity Center in Curitiba. Since 1990, teaches in Studied sculpture EMBAP.

Has been active in several associations and councils of institutions dedicated to the promotion and preservation of the art in Curitiba.

See: galeriatitton

Memorial da Imigração Polonesa, Curitiba

Pope’s woods

After Pope John Paul II visited Curitba in July, 1980, a memorial dedicated to Polish immigrants was opened on 13 December 1980 on the site of an old Esterina candle factory. It covers 4.6337 ha. The memorial is composed of seven log houses which are a reminder of the faith and struggles of the immigrants which first arrived in 1871. There are objects such as an old cart, a sour cabbage pipe and the patron saint, the Black Virgin of Czestochowa.

See: wikipedia

Huis van de Hertogen van Brabant, Brussel

House of Dukes of Brabant, Brussels

In the Middle ages there stood here on the Town square the 'Meynaert Steen' (stone house of the family Meynaert). The 'stone'was built on top of a mountain of sand and was also in use for defence. In 1441 the town expropriated it and reconstructed it together with several other houses into one lot.

After the bombardments of 1695 7 houses were brought behind one big wall with a common fronton. A few of these houses were guildhalls (the tanners had number 15, the millers had number 16, the wagonmakers and carpenters had number 17 (it is called 'Tinnen Pot'), the corporation of the 'Four crowns' (sculptors) number 18. Victor Hugo lived a month in number 16.

Yet in the 19th century there was a chips shop in one of the 2 houses. There is also a museum of chocolate.

See: belgiumview

Grand Place

The Grand Place or Grote Markt is the central square of Brussels. It is surrounded by guildhalls, the city's Town Hall, and the Breadhouse. The square is the most important tourist destination and most memorable landmark in Brussels. It measures 68 by 110 metres, and it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Early history

In the 10th century, Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine constructed a fort on Saint-Géry Island, the furthest inland point at which the Senne river was still navigable. This was the seed of what would become Brussels. By the end of the 11th century, an open-air marketplace was set up on a dried-up marsh near the fort that was surrounded by sandbanks. The market was called the Nedermerckt, or Lower Market.

The market likely developed around the same time as the commercial development of Brussels. A document from 1174 mentions a lower market (Latin: forum inferius) not far from the port on the Senne river. The market was well situated along the Causeway (Dutch: Steenweg), an important commercial road which connected the prosperous regions of the Rhineland and the County of Flanders.

At the beginning of the 13th century, three indoor markets were built on the northern edge of the Grand Place; a meat market, a bread market and a cloth market. These buildings, which belonged to the Duke of Brabant, allowed the wares to be showcased even in bad weather, but also allowed the Dukes to keep track of the storage and sale of goods, in order to collect taxes. Other buildings, made of wood or stone, enclosed the Grand Place.

The Brussels Town Hall stands 96 metres tall and is capped by a 3 metre statue of Saint Michael slaying a demon

Rise in importance

Improvements to the Grand Place from the 14th century onwards would mark the rise in importance of local merchants and tradesmen relative to the nobility. Short on money, the Duke transferred control of mills and commerce to the local authorities. The city of Brussels, as with the neighbouring cities of Mechelen and Leuven constructed a large indoor cloth market to the south of the square. At this point, the square was still haphazardly laid out, and the buildings along the edges had a motley tangle of gardens and irregular additions. The city expropriated and demolished a number of buildings that clogged the Grand Place, and formally defined the edges of the square.

The Brussels City Hall was built on the south side of the square in stages between 1401 and 1455, and made the Grand Place the seat of municipal power. It towers 96 metres high, and is capped by a 3 metre statue of Saint Michael slaying a demon. To counter this symbol of municipal power, from 1504 to 1536 the Duke of Brabant built a large building across from the city hall as symbol of ducal power. It was built on the site of the first cloth and bread markets, which were no longer in use, and it became known as the King's House (Middle Dutch: 's Conincxhuys), although no king has ever lived there. It is currently known as the Maison du roi (King's House) in French, though in Dutch it continues to be called the Broodhuis (Breadhouse), after the market whose place it took. Wealthy merchants and the increasingly powerful guilds of Brussels built houses around the edge of the square.

Destruction and rebuilding

On August 13, 1695, a 70,000-strong French army under Marshal François de Neufville, duc de Villeroi began a bombardment of Brussels in an effort to draw the League of Augsburg's forces away from their siege on French-held Namur in what is now southern Belgium. The French launched a massive bombardment of the mostly defenseless city centre with cannons and mortars, setting it on fire and flattening the majority of the Grand Place and the surrounding city. Only the stone shell of the town hall and a few fragments of other buildings remained standing. That the town hall survived at all is ironic, as it was the principal target of the artillery fire.

The square was rebuilt in the following four years by the city's guilds. Their efforts were regulated by the city councillors and the Governor of Brussels, who required that their plans be submitted to the authorities for their approval. This helped to deliver a remarkably harmonious layout for the rebuilt Grand Place, despite the ostensibly clashing combination of Gothic, Baroque and Louis XIV styles.

In the late 18th century, revolutionaries sacked the Grand Place, destroying statues of nobility and symbols of Christianity. The guildhalls were seized by the state and sold. The buildings were neglected and left in poor condition, with their façades painted, stuccoed and damaged by pollution. In the late 19th century, mayor Charles Buls had the Grand Place returned to its former splendour, with buildings being reconstructed or restored.

20th century

The Grand Place continued to serve as a market until November 19, 1959, and it is still called the Great Market or Grote Markt in Dutch. Neighbouring streets still reflect the area's origins, named after the sellers of butter, cheese, herring, coal and so on. The Grand Place was named by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1998. One of the houses was owned by the brewers' guild, and is now the home of a brewers' museum.

See: wikipedia

Maison du Roi / Broodhuis, Brussels

Museum of the City of Brussels

The Museum of the City of Brussels is a museum on the Grand Place square in Brussels, Belgium. It is dedicated to the history and folklore of the town of Brussels, its development from its beginnings to today, which it presents through paintings, sculptures, tapistries, engravings, photos and models, including a notable scale-representation of the town during the Middle Ages.

Highlights

Conceived in 1860 and inaugurated in 1887, the museum is situated on the Grand Place opposite the town hall of Brussels, in a building known as the Maison du Roi ("King's House") or Broodhuis ("Bread house") reconstructed by Victor Jamar in 1868. The building is counted as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with the rest of the square.

One room presents the nearly 750 costumes of the Manneken Pis statue. The Museum is open Tuesday – Sunday from 10am to 5pm.

See: wikipedia

Musical Instrument Museum, Brussels

Musical Instrument Museum

The Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) is a music museum in central Brussels, Belgium. It is part of the Royal Museums for Art and History and internationally renowned for its collection of over 8000 instruments.

History

Originally attached to the Royal Conservatory of Brussels with the purpose of demonstrating early instruments to students, the MIM collection was created in 1877 with a collection of a hundred Indian instruments given to King Leopold II of Belgium by Rajah Sourindro Mohun Tagore in 1876 and the collection of the celebrated Belgian musicologist François-Joseph Fétis, purchased by the Belgian government in 1872 and put on deposit in the Conservatory, where Fétis was the first director.

Its first curator, Victor-Charles Mahillon, greatly expanded the already impressive collection so that, by the time of his death in 1924, the MIM consisted of some 3,666 articles, among which 3,177 were original musical instruments. He was noted of his astute judgments in obtaining these large augmentations by calling on philanthropists, mixing with erudite amateurs who sometimes became generous donors, and through friendly relations with Belgian diplomats in foreign posts, who sometimes brought back instruments from beyond Europe.

The monumental five-volume catalogue of the collection Mahillon commissioned between 1880 and 1922 also included four versions of his essay on the methodical classification of both ancient and modern instruments, which was to serve as the basis for the organological Hornbostel-Sachs classification systems still used today. Beginning in 1877, Mahillon also created a restoration workshop in the MIM where he employed and trained a worker, Franz de Vestibule, to restore damaged articles and make copies of unique instruments in other public collections.

Mahillon's successor at the Conservatory, François-Auguste Gevaert, organized several successful concerts of professors and students playing early instruments in the 1880s.

After the First World War, donors and philanthropists became rarer, with only about a thousand instruments entering the collections between 1924 and 1968, and Belgium's famed instrument builders began becoming scarcer. Until 1957, the curators taking their turn at the head of the MIM, with Ernest Closson (1924–1936), his son Herman (1936–1945), and René Lyr (1945–1957) limiting themselves through the two world wars to preserving the already collected instruments, in not always satisfactory conditions. Ernest is notable for editing several articles on Belgian makers for the National Biography and devoting a long monograph to La facture des instruments de musique en Belgique, which appeared at the 1935 Universal Exhibition held in Brussels.

With the arrival of the esteemed Latinist Roger Bragard, curator between 1957 and 1968, larger budgets became available from the Ministry of Culture as exhibits were renovated, new personnel were hired, concerts were again organized, and new rare pieces were collected. His efforts were continued by his successors René de Maeyer (1968–1989), Nicolas Meeùs (1989–1995), and Malou Haine (1995–2009).

Exhibits

The museum's collection represents Belgian musical history (including Brussels' importance in the making of recorders in the 18th and 19th centuries and as the home of instrument inventor Adolphe Sax in the 19th century), European musical traditions, and non-European instruments. Mechanical instruments are shown in the basement, traditional instruments on the ground floor, the development of the modern orchestral instruments on the first floor, and keyboard and stringed instruments on the second floor.

Visitors are given infrared headphones in order to listen to almost 200 musical extracts of the instruments on display.

Information is provided in French and Dutch, though not in English.

Among the notable pieces of the collection are the famous Rottenburgh Alto recorder, instruments invented by Adolphe Sax, a unique set of giant Chinese stone chimes, and the only existing copy of the luthéal, an instrument used by Ravel.

Location

The museum's current location, as of 2000, is in the former Old England department store, built in 1899 by Paul Saintenoy out of girded steel and glass in the art nouveau style as well as an 18th-century neo-classic building designed by Barnabé Guimard.

Located at Rue Montagne de la Cour/Hofberg 2 on the Mont des Arts/Kunstberg, the museum sits next to Place Royale/Koningsplein and in front of the Magritte Museum. Access is available by Metro (line 1A and 1B, which stops in Central Park), Tram (lines 92, 93, and 94, which stop at the Royale) and bus (lines 20, 38, 60, 71, 95, and 96 stop at the Place Royale/Koningsplein). Parking is available near the museum at the nearby Congrès Albertine/Albertina Congres through the Place de la Justice/Plaats van Justitie and the Rue des Sols/Stuiversstraat.

See: wikipedia

Bike path to the Bonnefanten Museum

Bonnefanten Museum

The Bonnefanten Museum is a museum of fine art in Maastricht, Netherlands.

History

The museum was founded in 1884 as the historical and archaeological museum of the Dutch province of Limburg. The name Bonnefanten Museum is derived from the French 'bons enfants' ('good children'), the popular name of a former convent that housed the museum from 1951 until 1978.

In 1995, the museum moved to its present location, a former industrial site named 'Céramique'. The new building was designed by the Italian architect Aldo Rossi. With its rocket-shaped cupola overlooking the river Maas, it is one of Maastricht's most prominent modern buildings.

Since 1999, the museum has become exclusively an art museum. The historical and archaeological collections were housed elsewhere. The museum is largely funded by the province of Limburg.

Collection

The combination of old art and contemporary art under one roof gives the Bonnefanten Museum its distinctive character. The department of old masters is located on the first floor and displays highlights of early Italian, Flemish and Dutch painting. Exhibited on the same floor is the museum's extensive collection of Medieval sculpture. The contemporary art collection is exhibited on the second floor and focuses on American Minimalism, Italian Arte Povera and Concept Art. The second and third floors are also used for temporary exhibitions.

See: wikipedia

l'Hôtel de Cluny

Musée national du Moyen Âge

The Musée national du Moyen Âge, formerly Musée de Cluny, officially known as the Musée national du Moyen Âge - Thermes et hôtel de Cluny (National Museum of the Middle Ages - Cluny thermal baths and mansion), is a museum in Paris, France. It is located in the 5th arrondissement at 6 Place Paul Painlevé, south of the Boulevard Saint-Germain, between the Boulevard Saint-Michel and the Rue Saint-Jacques.

The Hôtel de Cluny

The structure is perhaps the most outstanding example still extant of civic architecture in medieval Paris. It was formerly the town house (hôtel) of the abbots of Cluny, started in 1334. The structure was rebuilt by Jacques d'Amboise, abbot in commendam of Cluny 1485-1510; it combines Gothic and Renaissance elements. In 1843 it was made into a public museum, to contain relics of France's Gothic past preserved in the building by Alexandre du Sommerard.

Though it no longer possesses anything originally connected with the abbey of Cluny, the hôtel was at first part of a larger Cluniac complex that also included a building (no longer standing) for a religious college in the Place de la Sorbonne, just south of the present day Hôtel de Cluny along Boulevard Saint-Michel. Although originally intended for the use of the Cluny abbots, the residence was taken over by Jacques d'Amboise, Bishop of Clermont and Abbot of Jumièges, and rebuilt to its present form in the period of 1485-1500. Occupants of the house over the years have included Mary Tudor, the sister of Henry VIII of England. She was installed here after the death of her husband Louis XII by his successor Francis I of France in 1515; Francis wished to monitor Mary closely, particularly to see if she was pregnant. Seventeenth-century occupants included several papal nuncios, including Mazarin.

Later, it was used as an observatory by the astronomer Charles Messier, who in 1771 published his observations in the landmark Messier catalog. In 1793 it was confiscated by the state, and for the next three decades served several functions. At one point it was owned by a physician who used the magnificent Flamboyant chapel on the first floor as a dissection room.

In 1833 Alexandre du Sommerard moved here and installed his large collection of medieval and Renaissance objects.[4] Upon his death in 1842 the collection was purchased by the state; the building was opened as a museum in 1843, with du Sommerard's son serving as the first curator. The present gardens, opened in 1971, include a "Forêt de la Licorne" inspired by the tapestries.

The Hôtel de Cluny is partially constructed on the remains of Gallo-Roman baths dating from the third century (known as the Thermes de Cluny), which are famous in their own right and which may still be visited. In fact, the museum itself actually consists of two buildings: the frigidarium ("cooling room"), where the remains of the Thermes de Cluny are, and the Hôtel de Cluny itself, which houses its impressive collections.

The museum

The Musée de Cluny houses a variety of important medieval artifacts, in particular its tapestry collection, which includes the fifteenth century tapestry cycle La Dame à la Licorne (The Lady and the Unicorn).

Other notable works stored there include early Medieval sculptures from the seventh and eighth centuries. There are also works of gold, ivory, antique furnishings, stained glass, and illuminated manuscripts.

See: Wikipedia

Museum Coluna Prestes, designed by Oscar Niemeyer

Coluna Prestes

The Coluna Prestes (or Coluna Miguel Costa-Prestes) was a social rebel movement between 1925 and 1927 in Brazil, with links to Tenente revolts. The ideology of the movement was diffuse, but the principal issues were dissatisfaction with the República Velha, the institution of the secret ballot, and the defense of public education.

See: Wikipedia

Oscar Niemeyer

Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho (December 15, 1907 – December 5, 2012), known as Oscar Niemeyer, was a Brazilian architect who is considered to be one of the key figures in the development of modern architecture. Niemeyer was best known for his design of civic buildings for Brasília, a planned city which became Brazil's capital in 1960, as well as his collaboration with other architects on the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. His exploration of the aesthetic possibilities of reinforced concrete was highly influential on the architecture of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

See: Wikipedia

Palmas, Tocantins

Palmas (Palm trees) is the capital and largest city in the state of Tocantins, Brazil. According to IBGE estimates from 2011, the city had 235,315 inhabitants.

Palmas is located at the state geographic centre, at an average altitude is 230 m. The city is located between these hills and the Tocantins River. In the east Palmas is bordered by the Serra do Lajeado.

Palmas was founded in 1990, with the purpose of being the capital of the newest Brazilian state Tocantins, which was established after the promulgation of the new 1988 Brazilian Constitution. The city has a well-designed road system, and its urban zoning is modelled on that of Brasília. It has a symmetrical park in the city centre. In 2002, the Lajeado Hydroelectric Power Plant reservoir was completed, at which point the city gained many river beaches, and also the huge Ponte da Amizade Presidente Fernando Henrique Cardoso, which crosses over 8 kilometers over the reservoir, connecting Palmas with the major highway BR-153.

The Palmas Airport connects Palmas with many Brazilian cities.

The city is also home to the Federal University of Tocantins.

See: Wikipedia