Museum Architecture
There are two major museums dedicated to modern art in Rio and it is not being unkind to suggest that in both cases the structures themselves are often of greater interest than the exhibitions within.
In downtown Rio there is MAM (Museu de Arte Moderna) designed by Afonso Eduardo Reidy. The museum is still re-building its collection after a serious fire in 1987 destroyed most of the works it then held.
The landscape around the museum is by Burle Marx and the Design Shop is well worth a visit to see - and buy- examples of innovative Brasilian design.
A short ferry ride from Rio is the City of Niteroi - home to the spectacular MAC (Museu do Arte Contemporanea) designed by Niemeyer.
(for the benefit of Sydney folk, Niteroi is to Rio as Manly is to Sydney)
Below we see MAC with Sugarloaf at right - do you think the angle of MAC's side was random ?
From the inside, whatever exhibition may be mounted will find it very hard to compete with the spectacular scenery on the outside.
Due purely to happenchance following some mis-direction by one of the Niteroi natives, we wandered down the hill from the Museu and stumbled across an 'information' booth where a very pleasant gentleman with quite reasonable English advised us that there was yet another Oscar Niemeyer building not far away.
A short bus ride around the bay we found a newly constructed Ferry Terminal at Charitas pictured below.
