Niemeyer's remains were flown by presidential plane to the capital from his native city Rio de Janeiro, where he died Wednesday night at age 104. Elisa Barboux, a spokeswoman for the Hospital Samaritano in Rio, said the cause of death was a respiratory infection.

After the flight in the plane loaned by President Dilma Rousseff, the cremated remains of the groundbreaking architect were to rest in the presidential palace, a deceptively simple building of glass and concrete that seems nearly weightless, an airy glass structure held aloft by vast, curving white pillars. After a vigil and public visitation, his ashes will be returned to Rio for burial Friday.

Rio's governor, Sergio Cabral, called for three days of mourning. "His manner was gentle, his convictions were firm, and he was loved by the Brazilian people," Cabral said in a statement.

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