Final day in Brasília

On Friday, March 6, our fourth day in Brasília we walked along the Eixo Monumental to the Memorial JK, which was the stunning museum and memorial dedicated to Juscelino Kubitschek, former President of Brazil and founder of Brasília. On the way I snapped a picture of Mark across from the Arena BRB Mané Garrincha:

It was a cloudy day yet we were comfortable in our tank tops and shorts. I remember it as quite hot. The memorial entrance:

The memorial was the most impressive museum I had visited during the entire monthlong vacation. As I pore over my own photos as well as Mark’s, I see that neither of us took any pictures inside. There was no restriction on photography, as the place was filled with photo opportunities, yet the entire museum was kept to a dim light which would not have produced good photos. Flash photography was forbidden. At the entrance, you proceed down a corridor which was flanked on both sides by photos and possessions owned by President Kubitschek.

The staff was dressed elegantly all in white. You can barely detect one such person in the above photo, yet if I crop it even more you can see the back of a man in a white suit. The women wore white jackets with skirts:

The inscription translates to “Everything transforms into dawn in this city that opens up to the morning”:

Ball sculptures at the front entrance:

The memorial paid tribute to President Kubitschek and his vision to create a new capital city for Brazil. A large yet extremely dim library was opposite the entrance and I suppose its collection was open to the public for research purposes only. It was staffed and the books were not off-limits, yet I didn’t get the impression that I could just take one off the shelves and walk out of there.

Another room housed a recreation of Kubitschek’s office and library in Rio de Janeiro. Staff guarded the room as Kubitschek’s desk and its accoutrements lay open to visitors and weren’t kept under glass. Kubitschek had an impressive collection of books, and I wish I had the time to read the spines of every one of them. I did see the collection of Shakespeare’s works, multiple volumes in oversize hardcovers, gifted to the president by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

The upstairs housed medals and other luxurious national treasures. These were housed in display cases. I enjoyed the photo exhibit detailing the history of Brasília from forested wilderness to the city it was razed to become. The fashions of both the president and his wife Sarah were on display. The entire upstairs was kept to a low light, no doubt in the best interest of preserving the colour of the fabrics.

In the centre of the room was the Kubitschek crypt, a dark and silent circular place. I was definitely underdressed to walk in there.

We caught the bus to see the Santuário Dom Bosco Salesiano. Before we got there we took a walk through the hospital area where all the businesses in the nearby strip malls were medical-related. I had to chuckle at the uselessness of the awningless awnings on some of the apartments:

The Santuário Dom Bosco Salesiano was built in 1963:

We had to get back to the hotel to change, as we had a 3:00 tour of the Congresso Nacional, and the dress code required collared shirts and long pants. We took the bus there yet weren’t sure about the proper entrance. We saw people wearing stickers on their shirts–the sure sign of visitors–leaving the tall towers, so we headed to the doors where they had exited. We entered the building via the concrete walkway that spanned the pool of water that surrounds the buildings. Detail in the smaller picture below:

We entered via the concrete walkway below:

There was a security checkpoint and we asked about the tour but the receptionist didn’t know much about it, so she summoned someone over who escorted us through to the proper waiting area.

This photo was taken as we exited the Congresso Nacional. We should have entered the building this way, but there were no signs indicating an entrance for tours:

The Câmara dos Deputados ( = Chamber of Deputies) is housed in the bowl part of the complex:

The Senado Federal ( = Federal Senate) is housed in the dome:

The ceiling is adorned with about one hundred thousand sheets of hanging metal plates:

Tiles along one wall of the Salão Verde:

On January 8, 2023, following the defeat of President Jair Bolsonaro in the 2022 Brazilian general election and the inauguration of his successor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a mob of Bolsonaro’s supporters attacked many of the federal government buildings. They invaded and caused deliberate damage to the Supremo Tribunal Federal, the Palácio do Planalto, the Praça dos Três Poderes as well as the Congresso Nacional. Their mission was to overthrow President Lula.

The Congress building had many display cases showing the various gifts that were presented to the president by visiting heads of state. The rioters smashed some of these cases and destroyed the luxurious treasures within. The current Congress has one room that shows these gifts, displayed next to the ones that were ruined. Outside of this room are other display cases showing more undamaged gifts:

A vase from the President of Hungary:

Close-up of the sign. On the top right “Piece damaged on January 8, 2023”:

Carved ostrich egg from the President of Sudan:

Vase from the Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China:

Model of the Congresso Nacional in the on-site museum. On the bottom left was a stack of postcards. Visitors could write postcards and mail them, postage-free. I wrote one to myself yet as of today, one month and one day since our visit to the Congress, I have yet to receive it:

We took these photos as we exited the Congresso Nacional. Rain was definitely brewing overhead, although in these pictures you can still see patches of blue sky:

The Câmara dos Deputados:

The Senado Federal (the dome) and the Câmara dos Deputados (the bowl):

Palácio da Justiça:

By the time we left the bus terminal, it had started to rain. I had brought my hooded orange jacket with me and put it on outside as we waited for the light to cross from the bus station to the Shopping Conjunto Nacional mall. The rain came down hard and fast; it was literally seconds between the start of a light fall of drops to the gushing torrent that felt like being under a waterfall. We intended to go back to the hotel then go out again for dinner but decided to stay at the mall and eat while we waited out the rain. I bemoaned the likelihood of being stuck wearing wet shoes during our trip home tomorrow, but thankfully they had almost entirely dried out.