The towers of the National Congress, which was designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer (inset), who died late on December 5. Niemeyer was a towering patriarch of modern architecture who shaped the look of modern Brazil and whose inventive, curved designs left their mark on cities worldwide. He was 104. Niemeyer had been battling kidney ailments and pneumonia for nearly a month in a Rio de Janeiro hospital. Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino/Files