Catedral Metropolitana de Brasília

What makes it special

From the Esplanada you see only the cathedral's crown of columns, the bell tower and the low oval roof of the baptistery. The crown is sixteen concrete columns that curve up from the ground and gather at the top.

A shallow reflecting pool circles the building and helps keep it cool. The white columns are mirrored in the water, so from outside the whole structure seems to rise from it.

Between the columns hangs the stained glass designed by Marianne Peretti, in blue, green, white and brown, covering most of the roof. It fills the nave with coloured natural light, so the room feels different as the sun moves.

Three angels by Alfredo Ceschiatti, made with Dante Croce, hang over the nave on thin steel cables. From the floor they look weightless.

The baptistery's walls are covered in ceramic tiles painted by Athos Bulcão. The building is listed as part of Brazil's national cultural heritage.

Visiting

Look at the columns and the pool from outside first, then take the entrance passage under the water into the nave.

Stand near the middle of the floor and look straight up at the angels and the glass, then walk the edge of the room. The curved wall carries sound along its length, so a whisper at one point reaches a companion standing far along it.

This is a working church, and worshippers pray here while you look round. On a weekday, come in the morning, when the light through the glass is strongest and before visiting stops for the midday Mass.

Guided or on your own

An hour on your own is enough to see the cathedral. A guided visit suits you if you want the story of the building, its sacred art and its architecture, and the cathedral offers them in Portuguese and English.

Request one from the cathedral, which asks each person for a contribution, and go only once a confirmation arrives by email. Groups book through the Visitor Reception Centre. Independent guides register with the national tourist-guide register, Cadastur.

Tips

Dress as for any working church: no short or low-cut clothes, trousers or a skirt below the knee, and take off a cap or hat as you go in.

Leave the flash and the tripod behind, since photographs are taken by natural light, which also protects the artworks. Never photograph anyone praying or at confession. The presbytery and the altar are reserved for services, so stay out of both.