Oscar Niemeyer designed Rio de Janeiro’s Sambadrome, officially called the Passarela Professor Darcy Ribeiro.
Niemeyer was Brazil’s most internationally celebrated modernist architect and a principal designer of Brasília’s monumental civic buildings. His Sambadrome design created a permanent architectural setting for Rio’s major samba-school parades instead of relying on temporary grandstands along ordinary streets.
The complex combines a long parade avenue with spectator stands and service areas. Its most recognizable feature is the Praça da Apoteose, a broad terminal space at the end of the route. The venue is named officially for Darcy Ribeiro, the anthropologist and public intellectual who supported its construction.
A common mix-up is attributing the Sambadrome to Lúcio Costa, Niemeyer’s frequent collaborator in Brasília. Costa helped shape Brasília’s urban plan, but Niemeyer designed the Rio Carnival venue.