Niemeyer, Modern Architecture’s Genius, Passes Away in Brazil
Oscar Niemeyer, revolutionary militant and genius of modern architecture, died at the age of 104 in a hospital in Rio de Janeiro, leaving his mark on this and other cities worldwide.
lamenting his death last night, President Dilma Rousseff stressed that “Brazil lost today one of its geniuses” the master of strokes and curves, and a great revolutionary.
Oscar Niemeyer’s body will lie in state today in this city, the most faithful exposition of his work that earned him worldwide recognition.
“Few dreamed as intensely and accomplished as much as he did,” emphasized the president remembering that the architect was one of the masterminds of Brasilia, the majestic city created in the 70’s, declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 1987.
Friend of the Cuban people and the leader of the revolution, Fidel Castro, Niemeyer left an imprint on the Caribbean island with his sculpture at the University of Computer Sciences.
The sculpture is considered anti-US; it is a monstrous figure who tries to threaten a man who defends himself while brandishing the Cuban flag.
His body is now resting at Planato Palace, headquarters of the presidency of the Republic, and will be returned to Rio de Janeiro, where he will be buried on Friday.
Prensa Latina offers below a brief timeline of this famous architect.
December 15, 1907 – Born in Rio de Janeiro
1928 – End of high school.
1934 – Gets a diploma in architecture at the National School of Fine Arts in Rio de Janeiro
1935 – Begins to work on Lucio Costa studio
1936 – Meet Gustavo Le Corbusier and Capanema.
1939 – Travel with Lucio Costa to design the Brazilian pavilion at the World Fair.
1940 – Meet the mayor of Belo Horizonte, Juscelino Kubitschek, who entrusted the plans of Pampulha historical Monument.
1945 – Joined the ranks of the Brazilian Communist Party
1947 “His project is selected as the basis for the United Nations headquarters in New York
1951 “Design the Copan Building project and Ibirapuera Park in Sao Paulo
1954 – Opens complex works in the Ibirapuera Complex for 400 years of Sao Paulo exhibition and travel through Europe and take part in reconstruction project of Berlin.
1955 – Founds the journal module in Rio de Janeiro and assumed the leadership of the Department of Architecture and Urbanism of Novacap, responsible for the construction of Brasilia.
1956 – Organizes the contest for the Pilot Plan of Brasilia school.
1958 – Design Alborada Palace in Brasilia and the main building of the new capital.
1962 – He was appointed coordinator of the School of Architecture of the newly created University of Brasilia.
1963 – Receives International Lenin Peace Prize
1968 – Projects the Mondadori Publishing House in Italy
1970 – In protest for the Vietnam War, he leaves the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
1972 – Opens office in Paris
1983 – Performs retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro
1985 – Re-designing projects for Brasilia.
1987-1988 – Receives the Pritzker Architecture Prize (considered the Nobel of architecture)
1989 – Design the Memorial of Latin America in Sao Paulo.
1990 – Receives Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts
1991 “Perform Project Museum of Contemporary Art in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro.
1994 – Design Museum of the Man and his Universe, in Brasilia, and the Embratel Towel, in Rio de Janeiro.
1995 – Build Monument in Commemoration of the Centennial of Belo Horizonte.
1996 – Performs Eldorado Memorial Project Report, which he donates to the movement of landless farmers.
1998 – Receives the Gold Medal of the British Institute of Architecture
2001 – Projects Annex Copacabana Palace Hotel in Rio de Janeiro, the film museum in Niteroi. Receive solidarity Medal of the State Council of the Republic of Cuba
2003 – Construction Starts at Ibirapuera Auditorium
2004 – Receives the Praemium Imperiale Award in Tokyo Meiji Memorial Hall.
January 2005 – Donate an architectural project to house the Museum Awards of the Prince of Asturias Fpundation to the Foundation Board.
2007 – turns 100 years and received awards and titles, between these the Friendship Order of the Russian government.
2008 – “100 x 100 Niemeyer” Exhibition traveled to many countries in Europe and South America. Opens in Computer Science University of Cuba a sculpture donated by the author.
2008 – Introduced the Port of Music project, to be held in Rosario, Argentina in the Urquiza’s Park.
2012 – suffer from health problems due to old age and was hospitalized on several occasions. On December 5, 2012 died in Rio de Janeiro, his hometown.
Egyptian Presidential Palace Becomes Battleground
The street taking to the executive mansion was turned here into a battle field between partisans and opponents of the Egyptian President, Mohamed Morsi,these groups have fought against each other in two occasions during the day.
Reports impossible to confirm mention “dozens of wounded” and two dead persons, a woman and a man, in the street combats registered in front of the Presidential Palace in the district of Heliopolis, located 10 kilometres far from the center of this capital.
The first clashes occurred Wednesday morning when followers of the President, members of the Muslim Fraternity, armed of sticks and steel bars, demolished the improvised campaign houses in front of the executive mansion.
The opponents settled in the place after the protest on Tuesday against the exceptional powers assumed by Morsi and the project of Constitution that will be subjected to a referendum on December 15.
Outnumbered by the members of the Muslim Fraternity, the opponents were forced to withdraw, but they returned at the end of the afternoon, what caused street battles, in which anti-riot policemen shot tear gases to disperse the demostrators.
In the Tahrir Square, in the center of Cairo, hundreds of people continue in a sitting in so that the leader gives up his exceptional abilities.
Egyptian Vice-President, Mahmoud Mekki, made some statements according to which Morsi will return the exceptional powers after the parliamentary elections programmed for next year and called the opposition to debate the articles of the project of Constitution, which is the cause of their complaints.
However, Mohamed el Baradei, Hamdin Sabagi and Amr Muse, visible heads of a recently formed Front of National Salvation, said in a press round that the dialogue has to be with the President and not with mediators.
The former presidential candidates in the last elections threatened to summon to national protests to force the President to give up the exceptional powers abilities and convoke to another Constituent Assembly to edit a new project of Carta Magna, different to the one approved last week and that it will be subjected to a referendum on December 15.
Soon after the 20:00 hours (18:00GMT) the anti-riot police had been able to separate the desmotrators that were still exchanging stones and insults next to the Presidential Palace in the district of Heliopolis, but the conflict is in its most algid point and the positions of both groups, are more and more separated by a certain kind of abyss.
China: 17 Deaths in Coal Mine Accident
A gas explosion at a coal mine in Huangheni, Fuyuan County, caused 17 dead and six wounded, confirmed today authorities of the southern Chinese province of Yunnan.
According to sources, the accident occurred this morning in an area of the mine where worked 66 miners, 16 of them died instantly and another in his way to hospital.
Six of the 49 survivors were wounded and one of them is in serious conditions.
Although the mine had all the permits, preliminary investigations show that the accident occurred due to unauthorized operations in an area that had gas accumulation.
The owner and administrator of the site are under police custody while investigations continue.
The mine, located a hundred kilometers from Fuyuan Country in Yunnan Province, began operations in 2007 and has a reserve of 11.93 million tons of coal.
Via PL