Karina
sent me this lovely card featuring The Ibirapuera Park, a major urban park in
São Paulo, Brazil. It has a large area for leisure, jogging and walking, as
well as a convention centre. Its importance to São Paulo is comparable to that
of the Central Park to New York City. The Ibirapuera
is one of Latin America largest city parks, together with Chapultepec
Park, in Mexico City and Simón Bolívar Park in Bogota. Inaugurated in 1954 for
the 400th anniversary of the city, with buildings designed by famous
architect Oscar Niemeyer and landscape by designer Roberto Burle Marx,
Ibirapuera Park covers an area of almost 2 square kilometres
(0.77 sq mi). It is the second biggest park in the city.
The park complex has many interesting features for
residents and visitors. They include: The Grande Marquise ("The
great marquee"), location of the MAM - Museu de Arte Moderna] ("Modern
Art Museum"); The Cicillo Matarazzo Pavilion, home for the
Museum of Contemporary Art, University of São Paulo, and a space for events and
expos, including the São Paulo Art Biennial and the São Paulo Fashion Week; The
Manoel da Nóbrega Pavilion, which until 1992 was the city hall; The Lucas
Nogueira Garcez Pavilion, formerly known as "Palácio das
Exposições"("Expositions Palace") and now known as the Oca
("hut", given its round shape), which harbors both the Museu
da Aeronáutica ("Air Force Museum") and the Museu do Folclore
("Folklore Museum"); The Armando de Arruda Pereira Pavilion,
home for the Prodam - Companhia de Processamento de Dados do Município ("Municipal
Data Processing Company"); The Palácio da Agricultura ("Agriculture
Palace"), home of Detran, municipal transit department. The building
was originally intended to harbor the municipal agriculture department; The Planetarium
and Municipal Astrophysics School. The Planetarium building which is shaped
like a flying saucer. It was the first Planetarium in the Southern Hemisphere
and has a dome, which is 20 meters in diameter. The German projection machine
shows the sky above São Paulo from dusk to dawn. During the projection a
professional astronomer explains the most famous stars and constellations as
well as the movements of the Earth and other planets; The Gymnasium; The
Japanese Pavilion; The Monumento às Bandeiras; The Ibirapuera
Auditorium, controversial building that was on the original Niemeyer plan,
but was only built recently; The Obelisk of São Paulo, symbol of the
Constitutionalist Revolution of 1932 and the statue of Pedro Alvares Cabral
that proclaims "Brazilians owe everything to Portugal."