It is an ecumenical temple that is one of the sights of Brasília and it is quite spectacular. I won’t go into detail here, anyone interested can google it, but it was indeed quite fascinating.
When you enter you are supposed to follow the black circular path on the floor to the middle of the pyramid.
Then you will find yourself standing on a brass plate under what is supposedly the largest crystal on earth. After that you leave following the white path going in the other direction, this is symbolizing mankind’s search for balance and enlightment. As I am not only not particularly religious I am also not very spiritual so I did not think much about this mumbo jumbo and would probably not have bothered to do it at all hadn’t it been for the very kind and serious man at the entrance who so kindly explained it to me. So I started toggling along the black path and feeling rather stupid. But after a while I was kind of moved by the spirit of the place and for a while I almost felt nauseous and dizzy, which went all away walking outwards again. Well I suppose it is not so strange that you get dizzy when walking in a circle, but anyway it was a smart thought to build it like that!
In the same area as the Boa Vontade I saw another interesting church that I maybe should find out more about. The Church of Perfect Liberty!! However I don’t feel quite sure that we have the same understanding of liberty.
Today I decided to make a trip outside of the city. It is not very much that you can see or do on a daytrip from Brasília, but I had read about the town Planaltina that is only about 40 km from Brasilia. There they have what is called the cornerstone of Brasília, that is a monument erected in 1922 to mark the place for the new capitol. I also read that the main happening of the year in Planaltina is a festival and a staging of Jesus way to the cross, which is taking place on Good Friday every year. As today is Good Friday I thought it might be a good idea to go there.
Once out of Brasília it was easy to find Planaltina and I almost stumbled on the Via Sacra area where the festival was. As I wanted to have a look at the town first I drove into what I believe was the centre, but it being holyday everything was closed and not much to see. I had no idea of where this monument was and did not see any signs for it (at least none I could understand) so I drove back to the festival area. It turned out I got there about one hour before it was supposed to start (but already many were there before me) but I decided to stay and wait.
I got a little bit worried when I saw the amount of police forces that came just before me. Both the military and civilian police were there as well as the rescue services and civilian defence. I can understand that you need a lot of security when many people gather and I knew the visitors use to counts in hundreds of thousand’s according to what I read, but still the number of security was impressive. I got a little worried that this thing could cause some kind of religious hysteria and decided not to stay very long.
This being in Brazil of course the waiting was long, but once it started it was actually quite impressing and fascinating. It was so many actors and they were really good and “realistic”. As I had made up my mind not to stay till the end and also wanted to come back to Brasília before it got dark I almost missed Jesus! I only met him briefly on his way up Via Dolorosa, but could not even get a good picture as a woman was almost killing me with her umbrella as he passed.
Visitors walking up the Via Sacra as I was leaving. There were many people coming still as I left and it had all started so I suppose it continues untill late.
Although you can not see him it is supposed to be Jesus led away by the two men in black
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