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The
City of Brasília Pictures
of Brasília
Errors
and mistakes: -
Cathedral inaugurated in 1967?
-
Brasília inaugurated in 1961? -
Errors in Brasília's main Architecture Guide -
Errors in other Guides -
Other mistakes Myths: -
The Dream of Dom Bosco -
The Avenue of 160 lanes -
Everyone travels in weekends -
Desert Climate -
Other myths Contact
the author
Portuguese version
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This
website was created as an attempt to clarify the various misunderstandings,
untrue statements and "myths" - i.e. false or illusive stories -
related
to the foundation and development of Brasília. These "Myths and Untruths
about Brasília" can be found in contemporary publications on the topic, as
well as in official websites.
It
is important to call attention to this matter because some of the "untruths"
about Brasília have been propagated in various sources all over these years.
For instance: the year of the inauguration of the Metropolitan Cathedral was
1970 but, in various books, the cathedral is said to have been inaugurated in
1967...
Errors
and mistakes:
Brasilia's
Cathedral
inaugurated in 1967?
The
Cathedral was inaugurated on May 31, 1970. However, in a book published by
the Secretaria de Turismo do DF (Brasília's Official Tourism Office) it is
written that "the Cathedral was inaugurated in 1967, twelve years
after its construction began." From this moment on, the majority of
city guides on Brasília began quoting this misinformation.
Besides,
the statement that "the Cathedral was inaugurated in 1967, twelve
years after its construction began" is obviously wrong. The
Cathedral's construction began in 1959, and not in 1957. 1957 was the year
in which work began in the Pilot Plan.
This
is what really happened: 1967 was, in fact, the year in which the
Cathedral, still under construction, was raised to the status of Historic
Patrimony. The administration Costa e Silva wanted to finish the
half-built Cathedral but it could not use public funds for that purpose.
Finishing the Cathedral was the responsibility of the Church and not of
the State. Thus, in 1967 the administration decided to turn the Cathedral
into a Monument and so it managed to get public funds to conclude the
project.
The
Cathedral was inaugurated three years later in 1970.
One
can find evidence of the inauguration of the Cathedral in 1970 in:
-
The
special edition on Brasília of the magazine "4 Rodas", from
April 1970 (nº 116-A, "Edição Especial de Turismo" -
Tourism Special Edition) which shows the Cathedral still under
construction and mentions that the fact that it will soon be inaugurated;
-
the
working staff of the Cathedral also confirms that the inauguration took
place in 1970;
this
page from the CNBB's website; the
first page of the newspaper Correio Braziliense of June 2nd, 1970
mentions the inauguration of the Cathedral as having taken place the
preceding Sunday at the occasion of the VIII Holy National Congress.
Brasília
inaugurated in 1961?
Though
Brasília was officially inaugurated on April 21, 1960, some sources state
Brasília was inaugurated in 1961 ! For instance:
The
book "Brazil - Places and History", by Beppe Ceccato. On
page 91 it is written "(...) and the city was inaugurated
in 1961." This book also has other
important mistakes. -
This
page in the website of Fundación Príncipe de Asturias.
This
page in the website of the University of Brasilia. They wrote "The University of Brasília (UnB) was founded in December 1961 in the same year as the city of
Brasilia (...)". I wrote them many times, but I never got any
answer. On
a website on Greek urban planning entitled "Town Planning in
the 20th Century" it was written that Brasilia inaugurated in
1961. In addition, it was claimed the double high-rise of the
National Congress had 38 stories, when, in fact, it has only 28. I
have sent the author of this website a message and both of these
mistakes were corrected.
Decisive
Mistakes in Brasília's Architecture Guide The
"Guiarquitetura Brasília", a comprehensive guide (240 pages) published in
2000 by Editora Abril / Empresa das
Artes, has a lot of wrong information:
-
On
page 42: the picture shown as being the satellite city of Nucleo
Bandeirante is, in fact, "Sector Lucio Costa" which belongs to the
administrative region of Guará (another satellite city of Brasília)
On
page 129: the picture shown as being the "Edifício Sede dos
Correios e Telégrafos" (building of the Post Office) is,
in fact, the building of the BNDES (Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento
Econômico e Social), which is a totally different building, located
in another part of the city. -
On
page 53 it is said the shopping mall Conjunto Nacional de Brasília (CNB) was the
first mall to be built in the city in 1971; on page 228 it is said that
the shopping mall Gilberto Salomao was the first one to be built. What
should we believe?
-
It
reveals two different dates for the inauguration of the Cathedral: 1970
on page 53 and on page 222; and 1971 on page 89...
-
The
dates present in the entry for each monument or building do not follow
the same criteria! For
some buildings, they put the interval between the project presentation
and the building inauguration - for example, for the Central Bank
building, "1976-1981". For other constructions, the date shown is the
one of the project - for example, for Costa e Silva Bridge, "1967".
Since, however, the bridge was concluded and inaugurated just in 1976,
the correct date should be "1967-1976". Another
example: if on page 90 the year corresponding to Itamaraty is put as
"1962 onwards", but on the following page,
that the year for Ministry of Justice ("Ministério da Justiça")
building is "1962". Thus, the
reader may think that
Ministério da Justiça was concluded before Itamaraty, when what
happened was actually the opposite - Itamaraty was inaugurated in the
late 60's, and Ministério da Justiça, only in the early 70's.
It
surprises us that such an important publication was not properly revised,
allowing so many mistakes.
Critical
Mistakes in Brasília's Urban Planning Guide The
"Guia de Urbanismo, Arquitetura e Arte de Brasília" (Guide of
Urban Planning, Architecture and Art of Brasilia), published by the
Foundation Athos Bulcao exhibits the following mistakes:
On
page 25 the main building of the Banco do Brasil is said to have
been built in 1962. Yet, one can see the building in photographs
taken in 1960. On
page 31, the legend of the photograph says: "from left to
right: blocks 200 and 100, Eixo Rodoviário" It should say
instead: "from left to right: blocks 200, Eixo Rodoviário, and
blocks 100. On
page 33 (and also on other pages), the President's name Kubitschek is misspelled. On
page 34 the photograph shows the superblock 107 ("SQS
107") and not the 308.
Again,
an important guide was published without being properly revised.
Critical
mistakes in Brasília's Guide "Brasilia Heart of Brasil",
published by Setur/DF The
Guide "Brasília Heart of Brazil", published by Brasilia's
official Tourism Office, in 1995, has the following errors:
On
page 12: the emblem of the Federal District is painted with the
wrong colors. Two of the areas which should be yellow are shown as
being white. On
page 42: it is said the superblocks measure "200 by 200
meters"; in fact, the superblocks are significantly larger than
this. On
page 119 it is said that the Cathedral was "inaugurated in
1967, 12 years after its construction." See comments above. On
page 123 it is written that the bridge Costa e Silva was inaugurated
in 1973. That's not true: the bridge was inaugurated in 1976. Its
construction began in 1969, stopped shortly thereafter and was retaken in 1974. The bridge was officially inaugurated on
February 6, 1976.
Mistakes
in the special magazine of the newspaper Correio Braziliense, entitled
"Olhar Brasilia" The
magazine "Olhar Brasília", published in 2004 by Correio
Braziliense, is be
one of the best publications ever issued on Brasília. It is perhaps the
best reference for anyone who wants to visit the city. Even so, it
contains three mistakes:
-
On page 78 the photograph shown is said to be
of the "Setor de Radio e TV" (an area in downtown
Brasilia) and yet it is a view of Aguas Claras (new satellite city);
-
On page 29: it is written the main building of
the Caixa Economica Federal was inaugurated in 1972. The building, in
truth, was inaugurated at the end of the 70's;
-
On page 86 the
photograph said to be of the "Rua dos Restaurantes" at "404/405
Sul" (Street of the Restaurants at 404/405 South) shows
actually part of 202 South.
The
Architecture Guide of Brasília published by Abril/ Empresa das Artes
mentions on page 53 that the first shopping mall in Brasilia was the
Conjunto Nacional de Brasília (CNB), built in 1971. However, on page 228 one reads that
the shopping mall Gilberto Salomao was the first mall to be built in
Brasília, in 1967. What is the meaning of this contradiction?
Well,
as a matter of fact, Gilberto Salomao was built before the CNB. Yet,
Gilberto Salomao was not originally built to be a shopping mall! It was too
small and had too few stores to be considered as such. Only much later, around the year 2000, was Gilberto Salomão
turned into a larger shopping area. Many news shops opened in a central area
of it, which was previously unbuilt.
The
"Conjunto Nacional" was inaugurated on November 21, 1971, as a shopping mall.
In its early years it was actually considered Brasilia's only shopping mall.
Thus, we may
conclude the CNB was the first shopping mall of Brasília.
The
Television Tower - was it inaugurated in 1965 or in 1967?
In
an inscription in the Television Tower one reads the tower was inaugurated in
1967.
Yet,
the newspapers of the time say the observation platform of the Television
Tower was inaugurated in April 1965 and refer to the fact that the structure
of the Tower was not yet complete.
In
1966 the newspapers already show pictures of the Television Tower as we know it today.
In any case, it was only in 1967 that the Tower was officially inaugurated by
the President Castelo Branco. This fact can be confirmed by looking at the
local newspapers of the time. -
Other
errors
-
The
book "Brazil-Lugares e Histórias" (2001) of Beppe Ceccato has
many critical mistakes: Ceccato (1) claims Brasilia was inaugurated in
1961; (2) states the Cathedral was "inaugurated in 1967 twelve
years after its construction began"; (3) shows the Sanctuary of Dom
Bosco as being the altar of the Metropolitan Cathedral (such an
incredible mistake makes us
wonder whether he ever visited Brasília); (4) claims many of the city's
inhabitants stay in Brasília only from Monday to Thursday because they
prefer to spend their weekends in their hometowns and, so, Brasília
looks like a ghost city on weekends.
-
Some
texts on websites also say the
lake is "80 km wide". What a huge lake we have in Brasília! The Lake Paranoa has
some 80 km of perimeter (80 km according to an official web site, 111,87
km according to another official site) which is something
completely different.
The
text of an American student that I have read on the internet (the page
has been withdrawn since then) claims the following
about Brasília: "(...) a beautiful looking city though it's a shame that
so much of the rain forest would have been destroyed before its
construction.". Meaning: he thought Brasília had really been built
in the tropical region. I was told that many people say "Brasília was built in the middle of the jungle".
What jungle? In Brasilia's area we had "cerrados", a
vegetation similar to the "savannas"...
Mistakes
in the captions of Brasília's
Postcards This
part is available in Portuguese only, at this
page.
Important:
I did not make a complete review of the
guides and books in which I found the mistakes described in the above section.
The publications may well have errors other than those I already found.
The
Myths:
The
Dream of Dom Bosco
The
construction of Brasilia has been associated with the prophetic dream of
the Italian priest Dom Bosco. The priest, today a Catholic Saint, had a
dream in 1883 about the great promise which Brazil's interior was to
reveal. According
to "interpreters" of this revelation, Bosco foresaw the site of
Brasília, 75 years before its construction, as that of the Promised Land.
In his "Biographical Memories" the Catholic priest described
that on 30 August 1883 he had a "dream-vision" in which he
traveled to the Central highlands of Brazil: "…Between the
fifteenth and the twentieth degrees of latitude there was a long a wide
stretch of land which arose at a point where a lake was forming. Then a
voice said repeatedly: when people come to excavate the mines hidden in
the middle of these mountains, there will emerge the Promised Land,
flowing with milk and honey. It will be of an inconceivable richness…" This
dream was appropriated by the government to legitimate the construction of
Brasília. But because there was no real reference to a "city"
in the dream's description, government officials decided to add the
concept of a "new civilization". In
official descriptions of Brasília one reads texts like "Dom Bosco,
who said that a new civbilization would arise between the fifteenth and
the twentieth degrees of latitude". However, the point is that Dom
Bosco never said anything about "a city" or "a new
civilization".
The
Avenue of 160 lanes
In
some places the Monumental Axis is considered "the largest avenue of the
world". Yet, when you take a good look at it you realize it is not that
large at all. The Monumental Axis could, in fact, be considered as two
separate avenues of 6 lanes each. At
least two web sites (website
1 - website
2) even say "The world's widest road is the Monumental Axis in
Brazil, where 160 cars can drive side by side." This is totally crazy!!! 
Monumental Axis (Eixo Monumental): world's
largest avenue or two separate avenues?
This is the avenue
"160 cars can drive side by side" according to some crazy websites...
The
book "Brazil - Places and History" (by Beppe Ceccato, published in
2001 by Manole) says the following about Brasília: "the capital city was
projected for 400.000 people but it has today 1.750.000 inhabitants. Many work
in the Ministries and live in the city from Monday to Thursday"
Elsewhere
it says " Brasília's population changes dramatically over the week: on
weekdays it is overcrowded but on weekends it is deserted because the members
of the Congress and their employees go back to their hometowns." This is
crazy, I have no comments to make. ...
Desert-like Climate Brasília
has a very dry season but it only lasts for about 3 months. For the rest of
the year Brasília is not dry at all. Nevertheless, some authors insist in
describing Brasília as being a city with a "desert's
climate." The
magazine Falconer, for instance, it its Fourth Quarter/1996 issue, page 19,
claims "Brasilia's humidity level is only 12%". 12% of humidity is
very rare in Brasília, it is not an average value! It might take place
during some hours in some dry days of the year but it is not at all the rule,
as you may see here. Pilot
Plan without space for new buildings I
once received an e-mail message from a foreigner that had just visited my
website, asking if it was true that "all places in Pilot Plan had
already being built and it was no longer possible to build new buildings". I
told him that there were still a lot of empty places in Pilot Plan, both
for commercial building and for residential buildings. Some
of yesterday's truths are myths today: The
following are some of the comments that could be found in the first books
about Brasília,
written in the 60's and in the 70's:
"...there
are no traffic lights in the city…” “...you
need less than ten minutes to get to work...” “...children
play freely in the green areas of the superblocks...” “...there
is nothing to do on weekends…”
Please
take a look at this
part of my website and will find my own comments regarding these
affirmations.
Some
of the books and publications referred in this page:
BRAGA,
Andrea da Costa; FALCÃO, Fernando A.R. Guia de Urbanismo, Arquitetura e
Arte de Brasília. Brasília: Fundação Athos Bulcão/Depha/Secretaria de
Cultura/GDF, 1997.
CECCATO,
BEPPE. Brazil Places and History / Brasil Lugares e Histórias. Manole, 2001.
Guiarquitetura
Brasília. Empresa das Artes / Abril , 2000.
LASSANCE, Adalberto. Brasília Capital do Brasil. Brasília: Instituto Histórico e
Geográfico do Distrito Federal / Pórfiro, 2003.
SETUR/DF. Brasília Coração Brasileiro. Brasília: Secretaria de Turismo
do DF / Sebrae, 1995.
©
Augusto Areal, 2004-2005. All rights reserved.
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