SANTUARIO DOM BOSCO

This sanctuary is a point of interest not to be missed in the city. It is a superb rectangular construction built in homage to the city's patron saint, Dom Bosco. The Italian saint is indeed at the origin of the prophecy that inspired the creation of Brasilia. In a utopian dream, he saw a prosperous capital rising in the middle of the desert, between the 15th and 20th parallels of the southern hemisphere. The Dom Bosco sanctuary was built in his honor in Brasilia on the 15th parallel. Inside, the building, flooded with a "celestial light", is worthy of a prophetic vision! Its walls unfold 80 columns of 15 meters high forming a sequence of 40 pointed arches. Between the columns, 2,200 square meters of stained glass windows in 12 shades of blue signed by the Brazilian Claudio Naves, let the colored light penetrate these sacred spaces. The altar, carved from a 10-ton block of pink marble, is dominated by a Christ on the cross measuring 8 m by 4.3 m, carved from a single cedar trunk. The twelve doors, divided into groups of four, form a frame that aims to retrace the text of theApocalypse. But one of the most remarkable pieces is undoubtedly its monumental chandelier, 3.5 meters high and 5 meters in diameter, made of 7,400 pieces of Murano glass (signed by the architect Alvimar Moreira). In August 2017, the crypt of the sanctuary was inaugurated to receive a replica of the urn containing the relics of the saint kept in Turin. It houses a life-size statue of Dom Bosco.