The Niterói Contemporary Art Museum (''Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói'' — MAC) is situated in the city of
Niterói
Niterói (, ) is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality of the state of Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro in the Southeast Region, Brazil, southeast region of Brazil. It lies across Guanabara Bay facing the city of Rio de Janeiro and forms ...
, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and is one of the city’s main landmarks. It was completed in
1996
File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
.
The MAC-Niterói was designed by Oscar Niemeyer with the assistance of structural engineer Bruno Contarini, who had worked with Niemeyer on earlier projects. The structure is 16 meters high; its cupola has a diameter of 50 meters with three floors. The museum has a collection of 1,217 works from the art collector João Sattamini. The collection was assembled since the 1950s by Sattamini, constituting the second largest collection of contemporary art in Brazil.
The museum projects itself over ''Boa Viagem'' (“Bon Voyage,” “Good Journey”) beach and also a neighborhood, the reflecting pool that surrounds the cylindrical base “like a flower,” in the words of Niemeyer.
A wide access slope leads to a Hall of Expositions, which has a capacity for sixty people. Two doors lead to the viewing gallery, through which can be seen Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro, and Sugarloaf Mountain. The saucer-shaped modernist structure, which has been likened to a
UFO
An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...
, is set on a cliffside, at the bottom of which is a beach. In the film ''Oscar Niemeyer, an architect committed to his century'', Niemeyer is seen flying over Rio de Janeiro in a UFO which then lands on the site, suggesting this to be the origin of the museum.
MAC Scandal
The MAC Scandal was a political scandal that surrounded the acquisition of land for the museum. The sub-mayor of Niterói's Oceanic Region, Zeca Mocarzel, convinced the owner of the land that construction rights were locked by the city council and, therefore, were able to purchase the land at a low price. When the mayor,
Jorge Roberto Silveira
Jorge Roberto Saad Silveira (born September 9th, 1952, in Niterói) is a Brazilian politician.
He was elected four times Mayor of the city of Niterói,The Amazing Race 18'' and the 8th Pit Stop of ''
The Amazing Race en Discovery Channel 2
''The Amazing Race en Discovery Channel 2'' is the second season of ''The Amazing Race en Discovery Channel'', a Latin American version of the American reality television show ''The Amazing Race''. It featured eleven teams of two, with a pre-exis ...