Concrete crystals
In the pool.
Josue Marinho — CC BY 3.0 · Guillermo Arévalo Aucahuasi — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Túllio F — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Túllio F — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Túllio F — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Túllio F — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Túllio F — CC BY-SA 4.0
The Civic Square, better known as the Crystals Square, is a landscape work designed by the artist Roberto Burle Marx with his assistant Haruyoshi Ono, opposite Army Headquarters in Brasília's Urban Military Sector. It opened in 1970 after five years of work, a triangular geometric garden covering 102,000 square metres. Burle Marx took the idea from a visit to the nearby town of Cristalina, where he and his assistant were enchanted by its many rock crystals; he had concrete pieces drawn in the shape of crystals, which now stand in the main reflecting pool to represent the riches of the Central Plateau. Concrete paths lead to several «islands» in the water. His original design used 53 plant species, most of them native to the cerrado; some survive today, among them a buriti palm about 12 metres tall. The square is little known even to residents, making a quiet visit for lovers of landscape design.
In the pool.
Concrete paths.
53 species.
Urban Military Sector, opposite Army Headquarters, Brasília
From Burle Marx's visit to Cristalina, a town rich in rock crystals.
