Cathedral of Brasília

Niemeyer's hyperboloid crown of glass, the most photographed building in Brasília

Oscar Niemeyer's most beloved building, completed in 1970, sits at the western end of the Esplanada dos Ministérios. Sixteen 90-tonne concrete columns rise out of the ground in a hyperboloid curve, meeting in a slender ring at the top — Niemeyer said he wanted "an act of faith expressed in pure form".

You enter via an underground passage that opens into the bright circular nave. The roof is glazed between the columns with stained-glass panels by Marianne Peretti, and Alfredo Ceschiatti's three suspended bronze angels are the dramatic centrepiece. Outside, four 3-metre statues of the Evangelists by the same sculptor flank the entrance. Open daily, free; the on-site museum has a small entrance fee.

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From outside the cathedral looks like a sunken crown — sixteen white concrete columns curving up out of the ground, with only the upper third of the structure visible. The trick is that you enter through a low underground tunnel that emerges into a vast circular nave flooded with green and blue light from the stained-glass panels between the columns. Three suspended bronze angels by Alfredo Ceschiatti hang above the altar, weighing about a tonne each.

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