Dedicated in 1970, the Roman Catholic cathedral of Brazil's capital was designed by Oscar Niemeyer and engineered by Joaquim Cardozo. Its structure was finished in 1960, but work on the rest slowed after the presidency of Juscelino Kubitschek, who founded the city, ended.
Sixteen curved concrete columns, each weighing 90 tons, rise in a ring and curve together, meant to suggest two hands raised toward heaven. Between them, glass and a vast stained glass work by Marianne Peretti fill the walls with blue, green and white light. Sculptures of three angels hang from steel cables over the nave.
Visitors enter through a tunnel and emerge into the bright interior, which holds up to 4,000 people. Outside, a reflecting pool surrounds the building and helps keep it cool, and bronze statues of the four Evangelists stand at the entrance.
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