Memorial JK, Brasília TV Tower & Burle Marx's Praça dos Cristais Guide

While the eastern half of the Monumental Axis houses the federal government, the western half climbs steadily uphill from the central bus platform toward the highest ridge of the Plano Piloto. Along this western esplanade sit three essential stops: the Torre de TV observation deck, the Memorial JK, and Roberto Burle Marx's most celebrated modernist water garden at Praça dos Cristais.

1. Memorial JK (1981) and Memorial dos Povos Indígenas

Standing at the western summit of the Eixo Monumental, the Memorial JK was commissioned by First Lady Dona Sarah Kubitschek and designed by Oscar Niemeyer (inaugurated on 12 September 1981, the 79th anniversary of the founder's birth) to honour President Juscelino Kubitschek (1902 to 1976), the visionary leader who built Brasília in 41 months.

• What to See Inside and Out: In the forecourt, a 28-metre curved concrete shaft cradles a bronze statue of JK waving to the city he founded, alongside his black 1974 Ford Galaxie presidential saloon. Inside the windowless white marble mausoleum, walk through the historical photo galleries of the 1956-1960 construction, JK's intact 3,000-volume personal library, and the circular mortuary chamber where his granite tomb rests beneath a fiery red-and-blue stained-glass skylight by Marianne Peretti; check the official Memorial JK site for current visiting days.
• Memorial dos Povos Indígenas (1987): Directly across the plaza, Niemeyer designed a circular spiral museum modelled directly on a communal Yanomami maloca roundhouse, displaying featherwork, ceramics, and canoes from across indigenous Brazil.

2. Torre de TV de Brasília (1967) and the Weekend Handicraft Fair

Located at the midpoint of the axis between the North and South Hotel Sectors, the Brasília TV Tower was designed by urban planner Lúcio Costa (inspired by the Eiffel Tower) and inaugurated in 1967 at a total height of 230 metres. Take the free public lift to the 75-metre panoramic observation deck for the single best view down the entire straight line of the Esplanada dos Ministérios to the National Congress and Lake Paranoá. At the base of the tower, browse the lively weekend Feira da Torre for Cerrado crafts, leatherwork, and regional street food, beside the 80-metre dancing water fountain.

3. Praça dos Cristais (1970): Roberto Burle Marx's Masterpiece

Ten minutes northwest in the Setor Militar Urbano (in front of the Army Headquarters and Niemeyer's sword-shaped Concha Acústica), Praça dos Cristais is a 102,000-square-metre public garden completed by Roberto Burle Marx in 1970. Inspired by the natural rock-crystal clusters of neighboring Goiás, Burle Marx arranged geometric triangular concrete prisms rising out of shallow geometric ponds filled with tropical water lilies, buriti palms, and ornamental grasses.