National Congress

In the new capital of Brasília Niemeyer designed the parliament as a sculpture: two tall slabs linked by a bridge, and on the roof a bowl and a dome. The bowl belongs to the Chamber of Deputies, the dome to the Senate. The whole city was built in just a few years.

President Juscelino Kubitschek decided to move Brazil’s capital from Rio de Janeiro to a new site in the interior. The planner Lúcio Costa drew up the plan, and Oscar Niemeyer the most important buildings. Construction proceeded at high speed, and the city was inaugurated on 21 April 1960. The National Congress was built in 1958–1960 and stands at the end of the great axis, where the three powers of state meet.

The building consists of a long, low platform with two tall 28-storey slabs housing offices. The slabs are linked by a bridge and together form an H, which has been interpreted as a symbol of humanity. On the platform’s roof are an upturned bowl over the Chamber of Deputies and a dome over the Senate. The forms symbolise openness and reflection. The material is white concrete, and the form is sculpturally simple.

Brasília became a World Heritage Site in 1987. The city has been criticised for being built for cars and for lacking street life, but its buildings are among the most expressive of modernism. Niemeyer received the Pritzker Prize in 1988. The National Congress has become a symbol of Brazil, and it shows how modernism could become monumental and sculptural.

• Post-war modernism
• Oscar Niemeyer