
Photo: Photo taken and created by Thum_Fel, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
The President's official residence, by the Paranoá lake. Not open to visitors. Its arches are icons of the capital.
The Palácio da Alvorada is the official residence of the president of Brazil. It is located in the national capital of Brasília, on a peninsula at the margins of Paranoá Lake. The building was designed by Oscar Niemeyer and built between 1957 and 1958 in the modernist style. It has been the residence of every Brazilian president since Juscelino Kubitschek. The building is listed as a National Historic Heritage Site.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
Pontão has lakeside restaurants and a park while the Ermida Dom Bosco (near SHIS QI 29, bus line 100/123) chapel provides gorgeous views of the city from across the Lake, an excellent place to watch Brasilia's famous sunsets. You can swim in the lake at the Ecological Park next to the Ermida.
A monument, chapel, and park on the edge of the lake, dedicated to an Italian monk who prophesied the construction of a new civilization at the site of Brasilia.
Praça dos Três Poderes
Includes the seats of the country's 3 highest authorities: the Congress, the Presidential Palace (called Palácio do Planalto) and the Supreme Court. The axis itself is aligned such that on April 21 (Tiradentes Day, marking the death of the Brazilian independence martyr), the sun rises precisely between the two towers of Congress. The bronze statue of two abstract figures is named Os Candangos and represents the pioneering spirit of the workers who built the city. There's also a "blind justice" statue by the Supreme Court, a small museum about Juscelino Kubitschek, the Pantheon, the Eternal Flame monument, and a model, built to scale, of Brasilia itself, in an underground space.
Palácio do Supremo Tribunal Federal
Daily, Brazilian National Congress offers a guided visit. It starts every half hour from 09:00, in Salão Negro (access the main ramp). It lasts for 50 minutes. You cannot enter wearing shorts and slippers from Monday to Friday.