The Cathedral of Brasília (Portuguese: ''Catedral Metropolitana de Brasília'', "Metropolitan Cathedral of Brasília") is the

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

serving

Brasília Brasília ( ; ) is the capital city, capital of Brazil and Federal District (Brazil), Federal District. Located in the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region, it was founded by President Juscelino ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, and serves as the seat of the Archdiocese of Brasília. It was designed by Brazilian architect

Oscar Niemeyer Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho (15 December 1907 – 5 December 2012), known as Oscar Niemeyer (), was a Brazilian architect considered to be one of the key figures in the development of modern architecture. Niemeyer was b ...

and engineered by Brazilian structural engineer Joaquim Cardozo, and was completed and dedicated on May 31, 1970.

Description

The cathedral is a hyperboloid structure constructed from 16 concrete columns weighing 90 tons each. In the square access to the cathedral are four tall

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

sculptures Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

representing the

four Evangelists In Christian tradition, the Four Evangelists are Matthew the Apostle, Matthew, Mark the Evangelist, Mark, Luke the Evangelist, Luke, and John the Evangelist, John, the authors attributed with the creation of the four canonical Gospel accounts ...

, created by sculptors Alfredo Ceschiatti and Dante Croce in 1968. Also outside the cathedral, to the right as visitors face the entrance, stands a tall bell tower containing four large bells donated by Spanish residents of Brazil and cast in Miranda de Ebro. At the entrance of the cathedral is a pillar with passages from the life of Mary, mother of Jesus, painted by Athos. A wide, deep reflecting pool surrounds the cathedral roof and helps cool the building. Visitors pass under this pool when entering the cathedral. The cathedral can hold up to 4,000 people. The oval baptistery is to the left of the entrance, and can be entered either from the cathedral or via a spiral staircase from the entrance plaza. The walls of the

baptistery In Church architecture, Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptisterium''; Greek language, Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptízein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned ...

are covered in

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcela ...

tiles painted in 1977 by Athos Bulcão. Offices for the Archdiocese of Brasília were completed in 2007 next to the cathedral. The building connects directly to the cathedral underground. Visitors enter into the cathedral through a tunnel and emerge into a bright space with a glass roof. The outer roof of the cathedral is composed of 16 pieces of

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a common type of fibre-reinforced plastic, fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened i ...

, each wide at the base and long inserted between the concrete pillars. Under this is suspended a

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

work created in 1990 by Marianne Peretti in shades of blue, green, white and brown. Over the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

are sculptures of three

angel An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...

s suspended by steel cables. These were created in 1970 by Alfredo Ceschiatti with the collaboration of Dante Croce. The shortest is long and weighs , the middle long and weighs , and the largest is long and weighs . The

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...

was donated by

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

and the

image An image or picture is a visual representation. An image can be Two-dimensional space, two-dimensional, such as a drawing, painting, or photograph, or Three-dimensional space, three-dimensional, such as a carving or sculpture. Images may be di ...

of the patron saint Our Lady of Aparecida is a replica of the original which is in Aparecida,

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

. The Way of the Cross is a work of Di Cavalcanti. Under the main altar is a small chapel accessible by steps from on either side of and behind the altar.

Artistic interpretation

The Cathedral of Brasília, officially the Metropolitan Cathedral of Our Lady of Aparecida (''Catedral Metropolitana Nossa Senhora Aparecida''), dedicated to the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

under her title of Our Lady of Aparecida, proclaimed by the Church as Queen and Patroness of Brazil, was designed by the architect Oscar Niemeyer and projected by the structural engineer Joaquim Cardozo. This concrete-framed hyperboloid structure appears with its glass roof to be reaching up, open, to heaven. Most of the cathedral is below ground, with only the diameter roof of the cathedral, the ovoid roof of the baptistry, and the bell tower visible above ground. The shape of the roof is based on a

hyperboloid In geometry, a hyperboloid of revolution, sometimes called a circular hyperboloid, is the surface generated by rotating a hyperbola around one of its principal axes. A hyperboloid is the surface obtained from a hyperboloid of revolution by def ...

of revolution with asymmetric sections. The hyperboloid structure consists of 16 identical concrete columns assembled on site. These columns, having hyperbolic section and weighing , represent two hands moving upwards to heaven.

History

The cornerstone was laid on September 15, 1958, and the structure was finished on April 21, 1960, with only the roof structure visible above ground. Once the presidential term of

Juscelino Kubitschek Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira (; 12 September 1902 – 22 August 1976), also known by his initials JK, was a Brazilian politician who served as the 21st president of Brazil from 1956 to 1961. Kubitschek's government plan, dubbed "50 years i ...

ended, the big push to finish many structures in Brasília stalled. Although it is likely that Kubitschek intended the cathedral as an "ecumenical cathedral" to be paid for by the state and open to all faiths, governments after that did not provide funding and the building was eventually turned over to the Catholic Church to complete. The cathedral was consecrated on October 12, 1968 (still with no roof), and was officially opened by Cardinal D. Eugenio Salles on May 31, 1970. The ovoid baptistry was dedicated on October 5, 1977, and the cathedral was declared a national historic and artistic monument on July 15, 1990. The cathedral sees some 1,000,000 visitors each year. Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Brasília, major renovations were begun on April 21, 2012 to update and repair the building and infrastructure, and address issues with the roof. The exterior glazing is being replaced, and the original stained glass designed by Marianne Peretti (which used hand made glass and thus varied widely in thickness) is being replaced by uniform glass cut and assembled in Brazil from plates manufactured in Germany. In addition to the roof repairs, all marble surfaces will be polished, concrete repaired and painted, the angels in the nave will be cleaned and re-mounted, and the bell mechanisms will be replaced. The cathedral will be open to the public during renovation.

References

15. Mayer, R. A linguagem de Oscar Niemeyer. Masters dissertation. Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, 2003. Available in: https://www.lume.ufrgs.br/handle/10183/6693

External links

Official website
* ttp://kaemena360.net/FS/Brasilia/BSBCathedral/index_swf.html Fullscreen interactive panorama of the cathedral (prior to roof restoration) {{DEFAULTSORT:Cathedral Of Brasilia Roman Catholic churches in Brasília Brasilia Roman Catholic churches completed in 1970 Hyperboloid structures Modernist architecture in Brazil Oscar Niemeyer buildings Tourist attractions in Brasília 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Brazil