MASP (Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand)

MASP occupies one of the most recognizable buildings in Brazil: a glass-and-red-concrete block suspended eight meters above Avenida Paulista on four giant concrete pillars, designed by Lina Bo Bardi and opened in 1968. Visitors enter beneath the raised structure into an open public plaza before moving up into the galleries housed in the glass box above street level. The museum is best known for its glass-easel display, in which paintings are mounted on freestanding glass panels rather than hung on walls, so works can be viewed from both sides with labels placed on the reverse. The permanent collection spans European old masters, including Raphael, Rembrandt, Renoir and Van Gogh, alongside one of Latin America's most important holdings of Brazilian modernist and contemporary art, with rotating temporary exhibitions on the lower level. A typical visit runs two to three hours, enough to cover the main collection floor and one temporary show; arriving near opening on a free-entry Tuesday gives the most room before galleries fill in the early afternoon. The open plaza beneath the building doubles as a public gathering space and hosts a Sunday antiques and craft fair, making the building itself, viewed from the pedestrianized stretch of Avenida Paulista, a strong photo opportunity even without going inside. Crowds build steadily through the morning on free Tuesdays and on weekend afternoons; Thursday evenings, when the museum stays open until 8PM, tend to be the quietest time to see the galleries.