Latin America Memorial

A seven-metre concrete hand, its open palm marked with a map of Latin America running red like a wound, stands at the centre of this Oscar Niemeyer complex in São Paulo's Barra Funda district. Known locally as the Memorial da América Latina, it opened in 1989 as a cultural centre devoted to the shared identity of Latin American peoples, an idea championed by the anthropologist Darcy Ribeiro.

The site is as much architecture as museum: sweeping white concrete buildings set across open plazas, linked by a footbridge over a busy avenue. The Creativity Pavilion displays folk art and crafts from across the region, while the Simón Bolívar Auditorium and a library dedicated to Latin American subjects anchor its cultural programme. Candido Portinari's large panel of Tiradentes, the hero of Brazilian independence, hangs in one of the halls.

The complex draws around 680,000 visitors a year and appeals most to those interested in modernist architecture and Latin American culture.