In 1996, Darcy Ribeiro invited João Filgueiras Lima, also known as Lelé, to design what he expected to be his own memorial inside the University of Brasilia, to which he had donated his 30,000-volume library, including his collections of Amerindian art. The building should be connected to an outdoor amphitheatre, which he named Beijódromo, so that the cultural institution would correspond to “what I had created in Rio as the Sambadrome [designed by Niemeyer in 1983, during Ribeiro’s term as state secretary of culture]. It is a large open air stage for serenades and poetry and theatre readings, in front of a grandstand for 200 people to look at the full moon”. In a letter to Darcy, Lelé described his main ideas as such: “This is my conception of a worthy house to keep your books, your Beijódromo and all you can imagine. It reminds me slightly of a flying saucer or of a mixture of a Xavante hut with those of the Kamayurá that you admire so much”.