15º 
| 16 de maio
| 16 de maio
Criado em 3/08/16 às 14h36 | Atualizado em 29/10/18 às 11h22
Toninho Tavares/Agência Brasili
Brasília, with its modern architecture and urbanism, possesses the world’s widest area of national heritage buildings registered in the Unesco’s World Heritage Site. The city’s initial project was conceived by urban planner Lúcio Costa and the main buildings were designed by architect Oscar Niemeyer. Thus, there are many monuments and other attractions to be visited in the capital. Hence, we elaborated suggestions of sightseeing tours to be made in the morning and afternoon.
A good choice for a sightseeing tour by the morning is a tour through the monuments of “Esplanada dos Ministérios”, designed by architect Oscar Niemeyer. Starting at the bus station Rodoviária do Plano Piloto, the first stop is the museum “Museu Nacional Honestino Guimarães”, on route “via S1”, which holds modern and contemporary art exhibitions. Visitation hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 9.00 a.m. to 6.30 p.m.
Toninho Tavares/Agência Brasilia
A bit more than 200 meters away, there is the cathedral “Catedral Metropolitana de Brasília”, one of the capital’s main attractions. Besides its architecture, the attention is driven to the Marianne Peretti’s stained glasses and Alfredo Ceschiatti’s angels hanging out from the ceiling. Visitation hours: Monday: 8.00 a.m. to 4.30 p.m.; Tuesday and Friday: 10.30 a.m. to 6.00 p.m.; Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday: 8.00 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Renato Araújo/ Agência Brasília
The next stop is about a kilometer away from the church, in the direction of the Praça dos Três Poderes: the Palace of Itamaraty. Seat of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, the site can be visited on guided tours scheduled at the reception. The visitor is walked through the palace and is able to know a portion of the country’s history through objects and works of art. The building is temporarily closed to tourists.
Agência Brasil
As we leave the Palace of Itamaraty, we can already see the National Congress building, which is open to visiting. Behind the seat of the Legislative Power is the Praça dos Três Poderes, which also houses the Palace of Planalto, the seat of the Executive, and the Supreme Federal Court. In the Praça dos Três Poderes we have another of Brasília’s most emblematic symbols: the sculpture “Os Guerreiros” [The Warriors], by artist Bruno Giorgi, better known as “Dois Candangos”.
Tony Winston/Agência Brasília
In the Praça dos Três Poderes we also have the Centro Cultural dos Três Poderes, a set of three monuments: the “Panteão da Pátria Tancredo Neves”, the “Espaço Lúcio Costa”, and the Historical Museum of Brasília. The pantheon was created to honor national heroes, those Brazilians who struggled for the ideals of freedom and democracy. Visiting hours: Tuesday to Sunday: 9.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m.
The Brazilian Historical Museum (Museu da Cidade) is the city’s oldest and aims at preserving the works concerning the capital’s construction history, holding a permanent exhibition with historical inscriptions, transcribed in Braille and English. Visiting hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 9.00 a.m to 6.00 p.m.
Tony Winston/Agência Brasília
As for the “Espaço Lúcio Costa”, it is a tribute to the urban planner who designed the city. It is an underground building which houses Brasília’s architectural model and a gallery where the copies of the sketches and the “Relatório do Plano Piloto” are on exhibition. Visitation hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 9.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m.
Tony Winston/Agência Brasília
Turning to the bus station, we still can walk by the façade of the Palace of Justice, on the “Via N1” route, opposite to the Palace of Itamaraty. Ahead, closer to the bus station central, there is the National Theater Cláudio Santoro, which displays an immense panel of cubes on both sides, by the artist Athos Bulcão.
After lunch, another tip is visiting the monuments of the “Eixo Monumental”, the continuation of the Esplanada dos Ministérios, above the central bus station of the Plano Piloto. The main attractions are the TV Tower, which also has a fair and a luminous fountain; the Brasília Planetarium; Praça do Buriti, where we have the Palace of Buriti, seat for Brasília’s local government; the Memorial of Native Peoples; the JK Memorial; the Praça do Cruzeiro, and the Military Cathedral Rainha da Paz.
Tony Winston/Agência Brasília
After knowing Brasília’s main attractions, in the Esplanada dos Ministérios, it is time to continue the tour through other places loved by Brasília’s inhabitants. It is most pleasant to promenade through the City Park Sarah Kubitschek. Its architectural design was made by Oscar Niemeyer, the landscaping by Burle Marx, and the urban area by Lúcio Costa. There we can see the amusement park, the bike path, playgrounds, the lake with pedal boats and kayaks, the woods with grills, the kart track, and other attractions. The park has several entrances, one through the Eixo Monumental, coming from the TV Tower, and it can be visited daily.
Renato Araújo/Agência Brasília
After leaving the park, visitors can go to the Santuário Dom Bosco, at Block 702, in Asa Sul. It is renowned for its stained glasses in blue shades, which represent the capital’s sky, and for its central chandelier, where 7,400 Murano’s glass cups and 180 lamps hang from. This shrine is considered the sixth wonder of the Federal District. Visiting hours: every day, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Pedro Ventura/Agência Brasília
Still in Asa Sul, tourists can visit the Little Church of Our Lady of Fatima, in between squares 307/308 Sul. Designed by Oscar Niemeyer, it is famous for its Athos Bulcão’s tiles. The chapel is the first built in masonry within Brasília’s residential blocks, and it resembles the shape of a novice hat. Visiting hours: every day, 8.00 a.m. to noon; 1.00 p.m. to 8.00 p.m.
Renato Araújo/Agência Brasília
In the same region, there are the blocks 107, 108, 307, and 308 Sul, listed by the Institute of Historical and Artistic Heritage (Iphan). This site welcomes tourists the whole year round and is a true lesson for architecture and urban planning. Its visitors will be able to see buildings designed by Oscar Niemeyer, gardens by Burle Marx, walls by Athos Bulcão, Lúcio Costa’s urban design, and the famous “cobogós” on the blocks.
308 Sul is renowned as a “model block” for it is a reference of how Brasília’s superblocks should be, and it is the only one having its landscaping project signed by Burle Marx, together with the urban project by Lúcio Costa. There the buildings have pilasters, which allow for the free circulation of pedestrians underneath them. Green spaces are predominant and there is an infrastructure to meet their residents’ needs.
Back to Brasília’s central region by the end of the afternoon, the sunset is another attraction for the city’s visitors. A good spot to watch the unique show of the capital’s sky is the Praça do Cruzeiro, the highest point of Plano Piloto, which is in the Eixo Monumental, above the JK Memorial.
Toninho Tavares/Agência Brasília
