Brasília

Culture

Brasília was built on the Central Plateau, in the middle of the cerrado savanna, to move the capital from the coast to the interior of the country. The move had been written into the 1891 Constitution, but it only happened under President Juscelino Kubitschek, and the city was inaugurated on 21 April 1960, after less than four years of construction. Lúcio Costa's Pilot Plan grows from two crossing axes, and many people see the shape of an aeroplane in it: the Monumental Axis holds the government buildings, and the Road Axis runs through the South and North wings, where the residential superblocks (superquadras) stand. The architecture is by Oscar Niemeyer and the landscaping by Roberto Burle Marx. In 1987 the ensemble became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The people who built the city came from all over Brazil, especially the Northeast, Minas Gerais and Goiás, and these pioneers became known as candangos. That mix created a way of speaking and living all its own. Addresses are acronyms and numbers, such as SQS 308, Block C. On Sundays and public holidays the Eixão highway closes to cars and becomes a leisure area, and Lake Paranoá is the place for sunset. Most of the Federal District's population lives outside the Pilot Plan, in administrative regions such as Taguatinga, Ceilândia and Gama.

Things to see

Local food

• Rice with pequi — The strong-smelling cerrado fruit cooked with rice. Do not bite the stone: it has spines.
• Pastel with sugarcane juice — The classic snack at the Pilot Plan bus station, where the two axes meet.
• Pamonha — Fresh corn paste cooked in the husk, sweet or savoury, a legacy of Goiás.
• Empadão goiano — A pie filled with chicken, sausage, cheese and guariroba palm heart.
• Baru nuts — Roasted nuts from a cerrado tree, sold at the markets.

Local music

In the late 1970s and the 80s, teenagers whose parents were civil servants and diplomats formed punk and rock bands in the Pilot Plan's residential blocks. Aborto Elétrico gave rise to Renato Russo's Legião Urbana and to Capital Inicial, and Plebe Rude completed the generation that earned Brasília the nickname of Brazil's rock capital. The city also has a strong choro tradition, with its Clube do Choro, and sertanejo is big across the Centre-West. Federal District radio plays rock, sertanejo, gospel, 80s hits and plenty of political news.

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