Brasilia: Order & Progress
Brasilia is Brazil’s gleaming vision of the future—a stark white metropolis shining amid the green plains and woodlands of the Planalto Central.
This city exemplifies the “order and progress” celebrated in motto on the national flag.
Brasilia replaced Rio as the federal capital in 1960—a move designed to populate the interior and bring regional neutrality to the country’s government.
Brasilia embodies the 20th-century principles of urbanism on a massive scale.
The city was planned by Lucio Costa, who laid out the central thoroughfares in the shape of a bird in flight. Many of the Brasilia’s public buildings were designed by famed architect Oscar Niemeyer.
His accomplishments include the National Congress, National Library, Presidential Palace, National Museum, and Cathedral of Brasilia.
Brasilia was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1987, in honor of its architectural treasures.
Brasilia’s climate is tropical, with year-round highs in the 90s and lows around 60°F. Rain is more common in the winter months of November to March.
Brasilia’s airport is connected by nonstop flights from Rio de Janeiro (1 hour 45 minutes) and Sao Paulo (1.5 hours).
“It is not the right angle that attracts me, nor the straight line, hard and inflexible, created by man. What attracts me is the free and sensual curve—the curve that I find in the mountains of my country, in the sinuous course of its rivers, in the body of the beloved woman.”
Oscar Niemeyer
—— COMBINE WITH
RIO DE JANEIRO
SAO PAULO
TRANCOSO