Metropolitan Cathedral Rio de Janiero > Reviews (1)

Catedral Metropolitana

The Metropolitan Cathedral in Rio de Janeiro is incredibly surprising in shape and impact. When we first arrived and were told that this was a Cathedral we didn't quite know what to say. I thought it was such an ugly looking building, resembling n electricity cooling tower rather than a Cathedral.

I'm not big into Cathedrals and churches but they are usually quite attractive buildings and often have an interesting history. While we had been in South America we had been into quite a number of the really ornate, ostentatious Catholic churches which were full of gold and silver statues and other gilt decorations and so this was even more of a surprise because we expecting a similar Cathedral, maybe even bigger and more elaborate but no, what we were faced with was a simple concrete conical building with no decoration outside at all.

This cathedral is a modern replacement for a number of churches that were used as Cathedrals prior to this one .Rio cathedral or Saint Sebastian Cathedral was begun in 1964 and completed in 1976 and is 83 metres in height (250 feet).It is conical in shape from the outside and looks to have no windows at all. Inside it can be seen that it is in fact 12-sided, with four glazed walls of coloured glass reaching up the full height to a cross shaped roof of lights. These four large stained glass windows are each 64 metres (210 ft) from floor to ceiling.

As you walk in you are immediately struck by how cool it is inside. Outside it was extremely sunny and very hot, inside the building which is just one level and appears very empty, there are seats but within the huge high space they do not seem to take up any room at all. There are no windows at all - the four huge stained glass walls or windows are there but otherwise there are no opening windows. The fresh air comes through openings in the walls that are layered so that rain cannot come in but cool air can. The architect has designed it in such a way that no electricity is needed for cooling the building. Hot air rises and leaves through the top vents and cool air comes in through the open doors and lower vents. Electricity is not needed to light the building either as usually sufficient light passes through the stained glass windows, the vents and the large doors. It was certainly light and cool while we were there.

After experiencing this and hearing the story of how the design was chosen, this building was beginning to grow on me. I'm not fond of fussy architecture (although I do love the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona) and although I was initially quite appalled at the ugliness of the Metropolitan Cathedral I was now becoming quite impressed.

Once you were inside the four tall floor to ceiling windows immediately took your eye and then you were drawn to look upwards and found that these windows met and created a cross in the top of the building - subtle rather than' in your face' imagery. The altar was simple, no fussy, gold and fancy statues at all. Behind the altar was a smaller chapel which was again, very plain, white walls and no statues and the walls only went up to a certain height then finished so that the main Cathedral roof could still be seen and all the cooling effects of the vents could still be appreciated.

There was a statue outside this chapel in the same simple style, like a Lladro figurine rather than a Dresden or Royal Doulton one with clean lines and in plain white stone.

This strange ugly/beautiful building has a capacity of 20,000 people and has not only become one of the Rio's landmarks, but is now also considered a masterpiece of modern art. It was designed by the world renowned Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer who was born in 1907. According to our guide, there was a competition held to select a design for the new cathedral and this one was chosen because it was cheap to build and also cheap to maintain ( no painting and little external cleaning required) and also cheap to upkeep as very little is needed to cool or light the inside of the building. I have said it was cool inside when we were there but I'm not sure how comfortable it would be with 20,000 people inside.

The architect, Oscar Niemeyer was born in Rio to wealthy family and he has made his name in architecture for his modern designs and for pioneering and exploring the formal possibilities of reinforced concrete solely for its aesthetic impact. He was also famous for his role is designing many buildings in the modern capital city of Brasilia, notably the National Congress of Brazil, Brazil's National Museum and the cathedral of Brasilia. Niemeyer has also designed buildings in Europe (Casino in Funchal, Madeira which looks a bit like the Cathedral in Rio) and around the world (the Penang State Mosque in George Town the state capital of Penang, Malaysia in 1970s).

So after the initial shock of seeing a concrete cooling tower instead of the usual church building I grew to like this Cathedral. I am not sure that I could ever describe it as beautiful as it is a dingy grey concrete colour in a simple conical shape with cooling vents as its only external feature. Inside it is more attractive purely because of its simplicity. I am most attracted to this building because of its 'green' quality. It was before its time in this as most people in the 70's didn't give a thought to economical use of resources and yet the architect of this building did just that and designed a building that was economical to maintain for a country that has many people living in poverty. It is not ostentatious and so poorer people can feel as welcome as the rich as there is no flashy decoration merely simple seating and a cone shaped building in which you can worship God should you choose. Apparently this cathedral is packed on a Sunday and the people of Rio love their odd looking cathedral and are very proud of it and of Oscar Niemeyer who designed it.

© Catsholiday - also on Dooyoo