Cathedral of Brasília
Niemeyer's hyperboloid crown of sixteen concrete columns, entered down a ramp into a stained-glass nave.
The Metropolitan Cathedral of Nossa Senhora Aparecida is one of Oscar Niemeyer's defining works in the new capital. Sixteen identical concrete columns, each weighing about ninety tonnes, sweep up from a circular base and curve outwards to form a hyperboloid crown forty metres across. The structure was calculated by the engineer Joaquim Cardozo and the cornerstone laid in 1958; the frame was complete by 1960, but the building was only dedicated on 31 May 1970 once its glazing and fittings were finished.
Visitors enter through a dark, sunken ramp and emerge into a nave lit almost entirely from above by stained glass fitted between the columns in 1990 by Marianne Peretti, in blues, whites and browns. Three aluminium angels by Alfredo Ceschiatti and Dante Croce hang from the ceiling on steel cables. Outside stand Ceschiatti's bronze figures of the four Evangelists, a detached campanile whose bells were a Spanish gift, and a small baptistery. The cathedral forms part of the UNESCO-listed Brasília ensemble.
Highlights
- Sixteen curved concrete columns forming a hyperboloid crown
- Stained glass by Marianne Peretti filling the nave with blue light
- Suspended aluminium angels by Alfredo Ceschiatti and Dante Croce
- Bronze statues of the four Evangelists on the forecourt
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