Samba and the Cathedral of San Sebastian

Why the juxtaposition of samba and a cathedral you might ask ? - why not ? - it seems to be the perfect mix in Rio.

Below you can see the empty sambodromo which is where much of the splendor of carnaval actually takes place.

Contrary to our belief before we got to Rio, the main action with the samba dancers does not occur in the streets in general, but along this custom designed arena where each of 14 Samba Schools takes over 1 hour to perform..

The sculpture/arch in the distance designed by Oscar Niemeyer - who else - is a stylized woman's bottom positioned adjacent to the spire of one of the many churches in downtown Rio.

Here Trisha is receiving an impromptu Samba lesson from Leni - our tour guide

And here some of our fellow tour members have paid their 3 Reals each to try on one of the fantasias - costumes- worn by the dancers in the parade.

Moving right along, we next come to the cathedral of San Sebastian designed by Brasilian Architect  Edgar Fonceca which opened in 1972 after 12 years of construction. The building is a truncated cone with a diameter at the base of 106 metres and a height of 75 metres and the 4 stained glass windows, located at each of the main compass points are 60 metres high.

The Cathedral can accommodate 20,000 people standing and 5,000 seated.

 

 

The traditional vertical cross atop a church here lies horizontal to filter light into the space below. 

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