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Avenida República do Chile in Rio represents the co-existence between the new and the old part of Rio de Janeiro.
The beginning of the avenue (and Avenida Republica do Paraguai) started with the partly demolition of Morro de Santo Antonio.

In the 1950s part of this area got demolished in order to provide material for the Eduardo Gomes park better known as Flamengo Park.
This demolition also provided the second advantage of enabling the opening of Avenida republica do Chile and Avenida Republica do Paraguai. Both opened in 1960 and was source of relief of traffic congestion.

Avenida Republica do Chile is a short avenue from Rua Lavradio until Largo da Carioca. All buildings are modern and the most famous is the Metropolitan Cathedral. On the same side of the street is the headquarters of Petrobras. Building that grew out of the need of the company to centralize all of the administrative areas in a single building.
The building was projected in 1967 and is a large square metal building with main architect Roberto Luís Gandolfi.

Located on a large property (10 thousand square meters) it has ample space surrounding the building. Beyond these gardens there are also open spaces within the building itself.
The gardens and these green areas are designed by Roberto Burle Marx. This famous Brazilian landscape architect, Roberto Burle Marx,
who is best known for his design of the Flamengo Park and the Copacabana promenade is also a central figure in Avenida Republica do Chile and surrounding areas.

Burle Marx is responsible for the garden in front of the train station leading to Santa Teresa.
Just in front of the Petrobras building and with the metro station there is Largo de Carioca.
As Burle Marx have designed the famous Copacabana promenade one can see the strong resemblance to Largo da Carioca square.

In front of the Petrobras building and next to the Largo da Carioca is Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Economica e Social (BNDES).
This is a big black mono-block seemingly floating over the ground. Behind this building there are large gardens designed by above mentioned Burle Marx.

This is also where you see the difference between the old Rio with Convento Santo Antonio which was started to be constructed in 1608 on one side of the gardens,
and the BNDES building which started to be constructed in 1974 on the other side of the gardens.

The last three buildings are the office buildings Rio Metropolitan, Ventura Corporate Towers and cultural center of Caixa Economica Federal.
Cultural center Caixa Economica Federal consists of two buildings. One of which is the main offices of the bank and the second one which has the shape of a foundation of a pyramide and is theater Nélson Rodrigues.



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