Designed in the shape of a bird or airplane, Brasilia was the brainchild of former Brasilian President Juscelino Kubitschek. He was inspired by the prediction of a 19th-century Italian priest and psychic that a new civilization would rise up between the 15th and 20th parallels, where Brasilia is located.

From its founding in 1960, Brasilia has billed itself as the city of the future. The modernist architecture set against a blue sky seems to expand to fill the universe.