Belo Horizonte's archbishop, Dom Walmor Oliveira de Azevedo, has just unveiled 103-year-old architect Oscar Niemeyer's master plan for the city's second cathedral, the first being Catedral da Boa Viagem, downtown.
The new temple, a longtime dream of Belo Horizonte's catholic faithful and already named Christ, the King's Cathedral, will be erected in the northern Venda Nova borough, closer to the new Administrative center - also designed by Niemeyer - and the Confins International Airport.
Shaped like praying hands rising towards the sky, the structure can also be seen as two columns symbolizing God's mysteries or even a boat, with open sails ready to navigate waters of peace and hope towards social justice, says the bishop.
Figures for the building are impressive: it will have capacity for 5,000 seated lay people and up to 20,000 visitors in special events, amounting to 40,000 square meters of construction-area and taking between 75 and 100 million dollars worth of investment.
A favorite for Brazil's big architectural projects for years, Niemeyer stated this would be the last cathedral he would design.
Christ, the King's cathedral is expected to be completed by 2014, probably ahead of the World Cup games, some of which will take place in the city.
Via Estado de Minas
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment