The Capital Treatment

Imagine you had the opportunity to design a city.  Not just any city, but a capital city.  A city that would become a metropolis of national and international importance. What would you have it look like?  How would it be laid out?  

This was basically the question facing Brazil roughly 50 years ago when it decided to end the debate over where the new capital of the republic should be located and simply build a new city out of nothing in the dead center of the country.  Thus, in 1960, Brasilia was born.

From above, the main plan of the city looks like an airplane.  The body of the plane is mostly an open grassy mall, with the various governmental buildings, ministries, courthouses, palaces, etc. lining the sides.  The wings of the plane, situated in a north-south orientation, contain the living and commercial areas of the city.  

A floor-sized model of the city shows the "airplane" plan from above,
looking essentially east to west.

Designed by Lucio Costa with architecture by Oscar Niemeyer, who both aligned themselves with communist ideologies, the city was aimed to created a "Utopian" feel.  I went for a run down down the southern axis of the city and can equate it to an old Bugs Bunny or Roadrunner cartoon where the aforementioned protagonist is fleeing his foil - Elmer Fudd or the Coyote, respectively - and the background animation keeps looping over and over again. Strip of store fronts, parking lot, small park, residential strip, large park with bus shelter, residential strip, small par, parking lot, commercial area, larger street/intersection, and repeat. Tucked behind all of this is the same neighborhood layout again and again. If you lived here you would easily be able to find your exact counterpart house in the next neighborhood.

The wings of the plane are organized into "sectors" - commercial, hotel, recreational, etc.  Within the sectors are "quadrants."  It makes finding an address pretty easy, but at the same time there's not a ton of variety in urban design.  Every neighborhood is theoretically the same, making the communist subtext all the more apparent.  Being a UNESCO World Heritage site for design, few infrastructural changes are allowed to be made. 

A part of the National Museum, showing a lot of Niemeyer flair.

Standing outside the (top) of the Metropolitan Cathedral.
The entrance is below ground level.

The inside is spacious and full of light. 

The National Congress Building.
The Senate is under dome and the Congress is under the bowl. The towers are
offices and are purposely situated asymmetrically to the left for visual balance,
but I must be architecturally ignorant because it looks uneven to me still.

The newly remodeled Mane Garrincha Stadium, ready for World Cup action.
(More on that later...)

With all due respect to President Dilma, while Brasilia is an interesting and easily navigable city, unless i were coming here for a specific reason - oh hey, World Cup! - it probably could be done in one solid day.

Mining the Past

You know you're in Ouro Preto if you can close your eyes, throw a stone, and odds are you will hit a church. For such a small town, even at its peak population of 110,000 in the mid-1700's, there are a ridiculous number of enormous churches.  Also museums.  And rocks.

Igreja São Francisco de Paula, completed in 1898 after 94 years.

The town of Ouro Preto has an important place in Brazilian history.  This tiny town in the state of Minas Gerais a couple of hours east of Belo Horizonte and several hours due north of Rio de Janeiro was founded back in 1711 after gold was discovered by bandeirantes (outlaws roaming the countryside looking for Indians to enslave and resources to exploit).  Due to the gold rush and resulting infrastructure, Ouro Preto was the place to be.  By the mid-1700's it was named the capital of the state and had a population more than twice that of New York City at that same time and over six times that of Rio de Janeiro, though most of this number was comprised of slaves.  Today it is under 70,000.

In 1789, several revolutionaries, including Joaquim José da Silva Xavier - better known as "Tiradentes" - began an uprising against the ruling Portuguese powers.  This particular effort failed, resulting in Tiradentes being jailed, then cut into pieces, his remains scattered along the roadway connecting Rio de Janeiro to Ouro Preto and his head impaled on a pole in the center of town.

In an attempt to preserve the history of the architecture of the town, in the late 1800's the capital was moved to the newly created Belo Horizonte.  In 1980 the entire city was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the first in Brazil.  The preservation was successful; walking the hilly cobble-stoned streets is like having taken a time machine to colonial European-style villa, but with palm trees, parrots, and monkeys.

In Ouro Preto you're either going uphill or downhill.

Aleijadinho's work:
Igreja São Francisco de Assis

Of all the churches, the Igreja São Francisco de Assis (1776) is allegedly one of the most important in terms of Brazilian colonial art.  The soapstone façade was carved by the son of a Portuguese architect and a black slave, known today as Aleijadinho, or "Little Cripple," due to a disease (leprosy?) that cost him his fingers, toes, and use of his lower legs.  This makes his carvings all the more impressive as they were created by  tying hammers and chisels to his limbs.  Ouro Preto is one of the best places to see some of his works.

This particular church displays two of Aleijadinho's signature styles.  The first is the double-barred cross seen at the top of the church.  The second is his portrayal of angels: always with wide open eyes and long wavy hair.

Close-up of one of Aleijadinho's typical angels.

While the mining industry in the area is still active - aluminum, iron, bauxite, manganese, topaz, and soapstone are all considered local resources - the main industry is tourism.  And Ouro Preto does tourism well.  Aside from the churches, there are several great museums, including the Museu de Ciência e Técnica da Escola de Minas where one can learn about and see a plethora of rocks, gems, and metals mined locally and abroad.  As fun as looking at rocks sounds, it's a really impressive museum.  Another place worth visiting is the Museu Casa dos Contos, a transformed mansion that served as both a jail and a treasury building.

Inside the Gem Room of the Museu de Ciência e Técnica da Escola de Minas

I got a mini-lesson in gemology from a local jeweler: on the right is the
unrefined topaz, and two examples of polished topaz. About $100USD each.

If I am ever in the region again, I will definitely make stop here.  There are couple museums I didn't get to, as well as a gold mine outside of town.  But there is also something to be said for just taking aimless strolls, tripping over uneven cobbled streets, getting lost in colonial back alleys...and time.

InstaOuroPreto?
Praça Tiradente from the window of the Museu de Ciência eTécnica
da Escola de Minas

Praça Tiradentes, again.
The monument in the center of the Plaza marks the spot
where Tiradente's head was displayed on a pole after the
failed revolutionary coup in the later 1700's.
Vem pra rua?

The "game room" of the restored mansion, now the
Museu Casa dos Contos.

Soapstone souvenirs galore!

Europe or Brazil? 

Another reason to come back to Ouro Preto.
(It's hard to find good beer in Brazil.)

A Taste of "Sampa"

Mão (Hand) by Oscar Niemeyer

Despite its proximity to Campinas, I have yet to explore the largest city in all of the Americas and the capitol of the state I reside in.  I think the very closeness of this megalopolis is what makes it so easy to put off visiting, like people who know few of the attractions in their hometown until visitors come.

I've been to São Paulo before for various conferences and in-transit stops at airports and bus terminals, but those hardly count. At only about a 90 minute journey down the highway by bus, I really have no excuses!

Last weekend we were finally officially introduced.  On a day-trip with the Portuguese language school I attended - hopelessly, at times - twice a week, we visited several cultural points of interest in the city.  The first stop was the Memorial da América Latina, a large, predominantly concrete plaza and separate buildings designed by famed Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer.

The Niemeyer-designed Salão de Atos Tiradentes (Hall of Acts)

The complex included a museum of Latin American art from Brazil and many other countries including Mexico, Peru, and Guatemala, among others.  There was also an impressive map of South America set within the floor that visitors could literally walk above and cross in a few large strides.

Latin American art of all types!

Standing above the continent (top).
Looking down on Brazil (bottom).

Next stop was the Museu do Futebol (Soccer Museum).  Located underneath part of the stands of the Estadio Municipal Paulo Machado de Carvalho this is a "must see" and I would gladly take anyone here.  Exploring all things Brazilian soccer, each room and exhibition is sensory experience unlike anything I've experienced.  Strangely, though we were allowed to take photographs in all the other museums filled with preserved artifacts, taking pictures of any kind was prohibited here.

Proof of my visit: the outside, the field, ticket stub.

After that healthy dose of national pride we headed to the Memorial da Resistência (Resistance Memorial), a museum implemented to remember a darker time in the city's history.  Originally built as a railway depot, the building was later made into a place where political prisoners were held, officially called the State Department for Political and Social Order, from 1940 to 1983.

A view up at the Memorial da Resistência from the only
outdoor prisoner area, a stretch of hallway open to the elements.

Our final stop before heading back to Campinas was a quick stop along the Avenida Dr. Arnaldo, where a section of curb several blocks long is filled to the brim with flower stalls, open 24 hours a day for whosoever might need them.

Até mais, Sampa!  I'll be back...