Palace of the National Congress of Brazil

Brief information

Two hemispheres on a flat base work almost like a diagram of parliament: under the dome is the Federal Senate, under the bowl is the Chamber of Deputies. Between them stand two parallel 28-story skyscrapers, so the whole volume reads as a set of scales, not just as an administrative building.

The Palace of the National Congress stands on the Square of the Three Powers in Brasília and was built to a design by Oscar Niemeyer in 1960. The lawn square in front of the entrance is also part of the place's image: it is used for official processions, rallies, and pickets, so an open space for public politics appears in front of the building.

What to notice right away

It makes sense to compare the three main parts of the building: the low parallelepiped, the two opposing hemispheres, and the pair of vertical towers. The flat base gathers the composition into a single horizontal line, while the skyscrapers sharply lift it upward. This makes it clearer why the building is described as a unified object, even though it consists of sharply different forms.

The hemispheres matter not only as a striking silhouette. The dome is associated with the Senate, the bowl with the Chamber of Deputies; together they signify the two houses of parliament and their balance. Another less noticeable detail is the underground tunnels to neighboring buildings in the complex. They show that the palace was conceived not as a solitary symbol on the square, but as part of a connected state infrastructure.