Retiro Island (Brasília)

The Paranoá Island (Portuguese: Ilha do Paranoá) is the largest of the three islands of Lake Paranoá in Brasília, Distrito Federal, Brazil. It is approximately 1.54 hectares, is located close to the ML 4 of Lago Norte neighborhood and is declared Lake Paranoá Ecological Reserve. The other two islands are Retiro Island and Clubes Island.

Lake Paranoá (Portuguese: Lago Paranoá, pronounced [ˈlagu pɐɾɐnuˈa], [ˈlagu paɾɐnoˈa]) is an artificial lake in Brasília, the capital of Brazil. During construction of the city, the Paranoá River was dammed to form the lake. It is at an altitude of 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) and has a circumference of 80 km (50 mi). On its shores are embassies and consulates, sports clubs, restaurants, the residential areas of Lago Sul and Lago Norte, the University of Brasília, the Olympic Center, and the Palácio da Alvorada, the official residence of the president of Brazil.

The Palácio da Alvorada (Portuguese pronunciation: [paˈlasju dawvoˈɾadɐ]) 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.The Palácio da Alvorada is used as a residence and for official receptions. The president's workplace and center of the executive branch is the Palácio do Planalto.

The Jaburu Palace (Portuguese: Palácio do Jaburu) is the official residence of the Vice President of Brazil. The building was designed, along with the rest of the city of Brasília, by Oscar Niemeyer and inaugurated in 1977. It is located near the Alvorada Palace. The name comes from a common bird of the region, the Jabiru. The building was designed in 1973 and inaugurated in 1977 – seventeen years after the inauguration of Brasília. Adalberto Pereira dos Santos, vice president of Ernesto Geisel, was the first resident, followed by Aureliano Chaves (vice president of João Figueiredo) and Itamar Franco (vice president of Fernando Collor). Marco Maciel (vice president of Fernando Henrique Cardoso) occupied the building from 1995 to 2002.

Paranoá is an administrative region in the Federal District in Brazil. It is located to the east of Paranoá Lake, being bordered by Lago Norte, Itapoã and Planaltina to the north, São Sebastião and Jardim Botânico to the south. It shares a border with Lago Sul and Brasília through Paranoá Lake. Paranoá was founded on October 25, 1957, receiving the status of administrative region, according to Law 4545, of December 10, 1964. As of a 2010 census, it has a population of 46,527.

Lago Norte (Portuguese pronunciation: [laɡu nɔʁtʃi]; lit. North Lake) is an administrative region in the Federal District in Brazil. Located to the north side of Paranoá Lake, it is bordered by Brasília, Sobradinho II, and Sobradinho to the north, Itapoã and Paranoá to the east. Lago Norte shares a maritime border with Lago Sul, Paranoá, and Brasília through the Paranoá Lake. It completely surrounds the administrative region of Varjão. Most of its inhabited area is located on a peninsula of Lake Paranoá. Lago Norte is home to the Brasilia Digital TV Tower. Lago Norte was founded on January 10, 1960, receiving the status of administrative region, according to Law 641, of January 10, 1994. In a 2010 report, its population was 41,627. Its current administrator is Marcelo Ferreira da Silva.

The University of Brasília (Portuguese: Universidade de Brasília, UnB) is a federal public university in Brasília, the capital of Brazil. It was founded in 1960 and has since consistently been named among the top five Brazilian universities and the top fifteen universities in South America by Times Higher Education (THE). Created under the utopian vision of educator Anísio Teixeira and anthropology professor Darcy Ribeiro in 1962, the University of Brasília (UnB) is located in the centre of Brazil’s capital city, on the banks of the Paranoá Lake. There are four campuses: the Darcy Ribeiro campus (regarded as the UnB’s nucleus), the Ceilândia, Gama and Planaltina campuses. Oscar Niemeyer, one of Modernism’s most feted architects, designed UnB’s main building, the Central Institute of Sciences and was also a key player in the university’s founding. Its strengths lie in its economics, international affairs and political science courses but its general teaching, research and outreach programs have made it one of Brazil’s most well respected universities. Comprising 26 faculties and schools, with 18 specialised research centres, there are over 105 undergraduate programs, some of which are evening or distance learning-based. It also offers 147 graduate degree programs and 22 specialist programs. UnB also boasts a University Hospital, a veterinary hospital, a restaurant and the Fazenda Água Limpa, a clean water farm just outside Brasilía; where forestry, agricultural and ecological research is undertaken on the university’s behalf. Relying on exchange programmes and networking with international organisations and post-secondary institutions, UnB administration and the Advisory Committee for International Affairs are positing it to the world as one of the best universities in Brazil. It admits undergraduate and post-graduate students via an yearly entrance exam, known in Brazil as vestibular and through ENEM and is most renowned for its courses in economics, international affairs, law, anthropology, mathematics and political science. Its Central Library is home to Midwestern Brazil's largest archive and is used by research and federal employees from all over the country UnB offers 114 courses recognized by the Ministry of Education.

The Thai Ambassador in Brasília is the official representative of the Government in Bangkok to the Government of Brazil.

The Palácio do Planalto (Portuguese pronunciation: [paˈlasju du plaˈnautu]) in Brasília is the official workplace of the president of Brazil. The building was designed by Oscar Niemeyer in 1958 and inaugurated on 21 April 1960. It has been the workplace of every Brazilian president since Juscelino Kubitschek. It is located at the Praça dos Três Poderes (Three Powers Plaza), to the east of the National Congress of Brazil and across from the Supreme Federal Court. It is one of the official palaces of the Presidency, along with the Palácio da Alvorada, the official residence. Besides the president, other high ranking government officials also work from the Planalto, including the Vice-President and the Chief of Staff; the other government ministry buildings are located on the Ministries Esplanade. As the seat of government, the term Planalto is often used as a metonym for the executive branch of the federal government. The building, constructed in the modernist style, is part of the Brasília World Heritage Site, designated by UNESCO in 1987.

Praça dos Três Poderes (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈpɾasɐ dus ˈtɾe(j)s poˈdeɾis]) or Three Powers Plaza (more idiomatically Three Branches Plaza) is a plaza in Brasília, the capital of Brazil. The name is derived from the presence of the three branches of government around the plaza: the Executive, represented by the Palácio do Planalto (presidential office); the Legislative represented by the National Congress of Brazil; and the Judiciary, represented by the Supremo Tribunal Federal (Supreme Federal Court). The plaza was designed by Lúcio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer as a place where the three powers would meet harmoniously. It is now also a tourist attraction. The plaza is home to the largest flag in the world to be flown regularly (in this case, continuously). The Brazilian flag hoisted weighs about 600 kilograms (1300 pounds) and has never been taken down (not counting monthly replacements) since the capital was inaugurated on 21 April 1960. The flag is changed monthly in the presence of Presidential Guard Battalion, Independence Dragoons, other troops and sometimes the President of Brazil. On 8 January 2023, the plaza was invaded by supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro.

On 8 January 2023, following the defeat of then-president Jair Bolsonaro in the 2022 Brazilian general election and the inauguration of his successor Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, a mob of Bolsonaro's supporters attacked Brazil's federal government buildings in the capital, Brasília. The mob invaded and vandalized the Supreme Federal Court, the National Congress building and the Planalto Presidential Palace in the Praça dos Três Poderes, seeking to violently overthrow the democratically elected president Lula, who had been inaugurated on 1 January. Many rioters said their purpose was to spur military leaders to launch a coup d'état and disrupt the democratic transition of power.At the time of the riots, neither Lula nor Bolsonaro were in Brasília: Lula was in Araraquara, a city in the interior of São Paulo, with the mayor Edinho Silva and ministers Luiz Marinho, Jader Filho and Waldez Goés, surveying the city after heavy rains in the municipality; Bolsonaro was in Orlando, Florida, in the United States, where he had been since the last days of 2022, even before the end of his term.The attack occurred a week after Lula's inauguration and followed several weeks of unrest from Bolsonaro's supporters. It took more than five hours for the Brazilian security forces to clear all three buildings of the rioters, which happened at 21:00 BRT (UTC−03:00). The storming of the government buildings drew swift condemnation from governments around the world.In response to the attack, at 18:00 BRT, Lula announced that he had signed a decree authorising a federal state of emergency in the Federal District through the end of January 2023. The Congress was not in session at the time of the attacks, but it swiftly ratified the declaration by 10 January.

The National Congress Palace (Portuguese: Palácio do Congresso Nacional) is a building in Brasilia, Brazil that serves as the meeting place of the Brazilian national legislature, the National Congress of Brazil. It was built in 1960.