Church Sketches

Despite his position as an atheist, Oscar Niemeyer designed several religious buildings over the course of his career. Three designs of religious buildings depicted here introduced non-traditional and innovative solutions. The un-built mosque in Algiers was designed to rest over the sea with bridge to connect to the shore; the Cathedral for Brasilia took the form of a stylized crown of thorns; and the parabolic structure that formed the church of St. Francis Assisi in Minas Gerais received much criticism for its similarity to a bomb shelter—while construction completed in 1942 it was not until 1959 that the church was consecrated.