The History of BRASILIA

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The History of BRASILIA
Part II

Topics:

The History of Brasilia	Photos of the Construction
"Did you know?" Other planned cities Extreme Detail Curios about Brasilia Mayors and Governors FAQs	A little about: Juscelino Kubitschek Lucio Costa Oscar Niemeyer Israel Pinheiro And also...
Historical Documents	Related links and Bibliography

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The purpose of these pages is presenting the abridged, albeit useful and accurate, history of our city. If you happen to have any additional information you'd like to e-mail us or if you know of any related web sites which might be of interest, please contact us!

Did you know...

... that Brasilia was not the first city that was planned and built to be the capital of a country?

... that people tried to determinate such small detail as to the color and vehicle models of taxis, and even bus drivers’ uniforms?

Curios and FAQs

Other planned cities

Besides Brasilia, many cities were planned and built specifically to be the capital of their countries.

Washington started to be built in the late eighteenth century; the city became the capital of the United States in 1800.

Canberra started to be built in 1913, and was declared capital of Australia in May 09, 1927. Canberra’s urban project was chosen among 137 entries in an international contest. Architect Walter Burley Griffin, author of the winning project, said Canberra should be "unlike any other city in the world".

Islamabad is a little more recent than Brasilia. The city was appointed Pakistan’s future capital in 1959, and started to be built in the sixties. According to this official site, "The master plan of this most modern city was prepared in 1960 by M/s. Constantinos Doxiades, a Greek firm of Architects. Construction was started in October 1961. The city came into life on 26 October, 1966, when the first office building of Islamabad was occupied."

It is important to note that these three cities were built relatively close to big cities that already existed. Canberra is 244 km from Sydney, and Washington is 327 km from New York. Islamabad is so close to Rawalpindi that they are considered twin cities. Brasilia, by the other side, is 931 km from Rio de Janeiro and 870 km from Sao Paulo. (these measures refer to air distances, not land distances)

Note: the above text is only about cities built to be country capitals. Many other cities were built to be the capital of a country's state or province. Maybe the most famous of such cities is Chandigarh, built to be the capital of the state of Punjab, in India.

Extreme detailing

Excerpts from Lúcio Costa’s letter to NOVACAP’s President:

On taxis: It has to be established in advance what car is to be chosen for taxis. It must be the dark gray DKW, preferably, the four-door model…

On bus drivers: The uniform will be dark gray… he must wear chevrons with the company’s colors… caps are to be mandatory…

Excerpts from Lúcio Costa’s letter to Israel Pinheiro (mayor of Brasilia):

(...)W-3 street does not need to be well-lit… it is an unimportant road (...)

Excerpts from Lúcio Costa’s Plano Piloto (guide plan) project (art.19):

Graveyards (...) will be turfed and have plenty of trees; graves will be shallow and have plain tombstones, English style, all without any signs of ostentation...

Isn’t it interesting to notice that a city that was built by a democratic government was planned in so small detail by so little people?

Curios and assorted bits of information

The "Bill of Anapolis" could have been the "Bill of Goiania". In his first trip to the Amazon, Juscelino Kubitschek should have stopped in Goiania, where the Bill was to be signed. However, bad weather force the plane to land in Anapolis...
When the city was inaugurated, there had already been built:
- SQS 105, 106, 107 and 108 (all buildings);
- SQS 104, 304, 306, 206 and 208 (some buildings);
- The stiltless 3-story buildings, SQS 409 to 412;
- SQS 308 and 114 were still under construction.
As of now (1997) all south-wing "superquadras" are completely built, or almost. However, some north-wing "superquadras" don’t have a single building yet.
Have you ever wondered what Brasilia would look like had one of the other entries won the contest? Seven circles instead of the two wings, gigantic residential buildings...know more about it here!
A condo in Rio, Parque Guinle, is considered to be the harbinger of the "superquadras" in Brasilia. Some of the buildings there (see picture) are very similar to those of one of the original "superquadras", SQS 105.
The Pilot Plan was modified between its presentation by Lucio Costa and the beginning of the construction. Some of the modifications are listed below:
- They added 3-store buildings, more popular, the super-blocks "400" (402 to 416).
- They added the "germinated houses" sector, the "700" (702 to 716).
- The central sector was enlarged, embodying the blocks ended in "01". This is why the superblocks are numbered from "02" to "16", and not from "01" to "16". The place corresponding to what would be "SQS 201", for example, is actually part of the Southern Banking Sector.
- The place for the Praça dos Três Poderes (Three Power Square) was moved further to the East.
In the beginning, landscaping was done with many different species of trees. Nowadays only native species are used for that purpose.
Fluorescent lighting was originally used for street's illumination, which was quite advanced for a time when big cities like Rio and Sao Paulo used incandescent bulbs. In those cities, when sodium and mercury vapor lighting came into use, everything, including the posts, was changed. In Brasilia, however, when mercury vapor lighting replaced fluorescent lamps, the original posts, shorter and more spaced than those generally used for the new lighting system, were kept. This is one of the reasons why many streets and avenues in Brasilia are not as well lit as those in other cities.
In older books and magazines about Brasilia, it is common to find inverted photos. It was easy to do so because they were made on positive (slide) film. We can’t tell whether these inversions were made on purpose (for aesthetic reasons) or not. Anyway, in case you come across an old picture of a place you know but can’t quite find your way around it, try placing the picture in front of a mirror…
After all, what is "Brasilia"? Would it just be "Plano Piloto"? Or would it include the "satellite towns" too? In practice, the word "Brasilia" can have many meanings. Check them out here.
Tables showing the enormous growth of the population of the Federal District, from 1960 to the present days, can be seen at a separated page.
The Bus Platform (at the intersection of Eixo Rodoviário and Eixo Monumental) was inaugurated by JK September 12, 1960. It was originally meant to be a local as well as an interstate bus terminal. At some point it became too small for both, so interstate buses were shifted to the new Estação Rodoferroviária (Bus and Railroad Station), in the west end of Eixo Monumental. So, to this day, Brasilia has never had an interstate bus-only terminal.
By the time of the inauguration, there were only 11 Ministry buildings. There are now 17, in addition to the two which have an individual architectural project (Ministry of Justice and Itamaraty, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
Connecting North and South W-3 avenues in the late 70’s (maybe in the early 80's - we could not find the exact date) was one of the changes to the original plan. To accommodate the new lanes, the sound- and light-effects fountain there was there had to be demolished. Fondly remembered by many, it was one of the most popular postcards in the sixties and seventies. A new sound- and light-effects fountain was inaugurated (near the original place) in September 1998.

We could also remember traditional commercial stores that either do not exist anymore or that have changed a lot:

Arabeske was an important bar located on 109 Sul, the same road of the most traditional bar of Brasilia, the Beirute. Today Arabeske has in its place an electric appliance store.
Bibabô, a large department store located at 508 Sul (and which existed almost since Brasilia's inauguration), had changed its named to "Pick and Take" and some time later, in 1998, finished its activities.
Caderneta de Poupança Colméia, a savings bank, went bankrupted in the 80s. Those who lived in Brasilia in the 70s might still remember Colmeia's advertisements on the local TV stations.
Chez Willy Restaurant and Restaturante e Bar Macumba closed in the 60s.
Casa do Barata, a hardware store, which used to be at the 506 Sul, closed in the 90s.
Fofi, another department store, still exists, but now is a "children wear " store.
SAB (Sociedade de Abastecimento de Brasília) was an important chain of supermarkets, which was closed store by store, progressively. The last SAB stores finished their activities in 1998. The buildings are nowadays used by others supermarkets.
Slaviero at 505 Sul rented most of its building, but still uses the car dealer department. "Bom Motivo" supermarket, an independent store, rents nowadays the place where Slaviero supermarket used to be.

© Augusto Cesar B. Areal, 1997-2007.

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