In Brazil, the celebrations for the 100th year of the famous architect Niemeyer have begun

Brasília - On the day of the 99th birthday of the famous architect Oscar Niemeyer, Brazil officially launched the celebrations for the 100th year of one of its most notable citizens. In the capital city of Brasília, two new buildings designed by Niemeyer - a museum and a national library - were ceremonially opened today.
    The celebration was attended by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, but the honoree himself was unable to attend due to a recent hip surgery.
    The construction of the museum and library, which will complement the famous Niemeyer complex of modern buildings in the Brazilian metropolis, founded in 1960, began three years ago. The government spent over 50 million dollars (about one billion crowns) on the projects.
    Niemeyer, who recently married his sixty-year-old secretary, stated in an interview with the newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo today that despite having undergone surgery, he feels well and does not stop working. Currently, he is primarily occupied with a theater project for the Brazilian city of Niterói, as well as finalizing the last details on a nearly ten-ton statue that he intends to soon dedicate to Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
    Oscar Niemeyer, a member of the generation of architects developing ideas from Le Corbusier's revision of functionalism in an expressive style, designed most of the most significant buildings for the new capital city of Brasília 40 years ago - among others, the presidential palace, parliament, and cathedral. In Europe, his work includes, for example, the Paris headquarters of the French Communist Party. Niemeyer has been the recipient of the Gold Medal from the American Institute of Architects since 1970, and since 1988, he has been awarded the Pritzker Prize, which is comparable to the Nobel Prize in architecture.