Shy of a visit to Brasilia, this is the best place to see Brazilian modernism in all its concrete austerity. Designed by famed Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, the monument consists of a vast field of concrete dotted about the edges with perfectly geometrical concrete pavilions originally painted blinding white, but long since streaked by the rain. The two pavilions of most interest to visitors unimpressed by architecture are the Art Gallery and the Hall of Creativity. The Art Gallery hosts changing fine-art exhibits, whereas the Hall of Creativity is a permanent home to a fun and fascinating display of folk art from across the length and breadth of Latin America. Back outside, in the center of all this hard-edged mathematical purity stands Niemeyer's first attempt at sculpture, a giant concrete hand, its palm incised with a blood-red map of Latin America.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Brazil, 4th Edition, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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