One of Brasilia's great creative geniuses, prize winning architect Oscar Niemeyer, has been laid in state at the presidential palace.
President Dilma Rousseff received the architect's mortal remains with honours on Thursday, accompanied by his widow, Vera Lucia Cabreira, at the Planalto Palace.
The casket, covered with the Brazilian flag, was brought up the palace ramp on the shoulders of police officers, flanked by the palace honour guard.
In Brazilian protocol, moving up the presidential ramp is reserved for heads of state.
The decision to have Niemeyer lie in state at the palace came from Rousseff, who on Wednesday evening was in touch with the architect's relatives to express her condolences and make the offer.
After the official tribute, the viewing will be open to the public for about four hours.
Niemeyer's burial is scheduled for Friday afternoon at the Sao Joao Batista cemetery in the Rio de Janeiro neighbourhood of Botafogo, very near where he was born on December 15, 1907, and the hospital where he died a month after being admitted with kidney problems.
Despite his advanced age, Niemeyer, winner of Spain's prestigious Prince of Asturias Prize for the Arts in 1989, remained professionally active up until what turned out to be his final illness.
The acclaimed architect and avowed communist, who a half century ago designed the main buildings of Brasilia, the nation's futuristic capital, became known for the flowing curves of his reinforced concrete structures.
