This page is a collection of pictures downloaded from the world-wide web. I believe that the use of these pictures is permitted by virtue of their appearing free to view on the internet. Should this not be the case, please inform me and I will remove the picture concerned. Links to websites are included when of use but some of the sites are not available in English.
This is perhaps one of the most amazing constructions in the world. What is it? Is it one enormous cone or spire? The architect was Jose Augusto Balucci, and the cathedral of Nossa Senhora da Gloria (Our Lady of Victories) was erected 1959-72.
It seems the fashion in Brasil to build (often on a new site) the cathedral church in a modern style. Brasilia, the capital, has an astonishing cathedral too that is world famous but Maringa (above) and this cathedral at Rio di Janeiro are equally surprising in shape and impact. Rio cathedral was completed in 1976 and is 83 metres in height (250 feet). Inside it is 12-sided, with four glazed walls of coloured glass reaching up the full height to a cross shaped roof of lights.
This strange cruciform church does not appear to be very large. In deed I was not convinced that some of the other pictures are not of a model built to see how the planned church would look! Make up your own mind with more pictures including some odd interior shots obtainable in thumbnails by clicking the link below.
This cathedral has been some time being built. Begun in 1907 and not completed until 1969, it is in an odd rather stylized Gothic, with repetitive details. It is massive in scale, and has double aisles, a big triple narthex with stepped arches, an apology for a central tower (was more planned), a massive crypt and apsidal east end with ambulatory and chevet of chapels.
If anyone finds any interior shots of these cathedrals, let me know, although in the case of Maringa I am not sure what a still photograph would convey!
