Nascimento de Brasília

The Birth of a City

Brasília

Nascimento de Brasília

Brasília is the ultra modern futuristic fantasy wonderland we all dream about. Brasília was planned and developed in 1956 with Lúcio Costa as the principal urban planner. Oscar Niemeyer, a close friend of Lúcio Costa, was the chief architect of most non public buildings and Roberto Burle Marx was the landscape designer. Brasília was built in 41 months, from 1956 to April 21, 1960, when it was officially inaugurated. On April 22 of 1960, it formally became Brazil's national capital. Viewed from above, the main portion of the city resembles an airplane or a butterfly. The city has received wide acclaim for its use of modernist architecture on a grand scale and for its utopian city plan. Brasília is the only city in the world built in the 20th century to be awarded the status of Historical and Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.

Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira, President of Brazil in 1967.

We love the following photographs by Marcel Gautherot. Marcel Gautherot was born in Paris on June 14, 1910. He settled in Brazil in 1940 and quickly became one of Brazil's most lauded photographers. In 1958, Oscar Niemeyer invited the French-Brazilian photographer Marcel Gautherot to record the construction of Brasília. For a duration of two years, Marcel Gautherot photographed the construction of the city that would become a landmark of modern architecture and urbanism. Most of the images that follow are an integral part of the book Brasilia, published by the Instituto Moreira Salles.