Christ the Redeemer Statue

The Christ the redeemer statue was suggested by Vincentian priest Pedro Maria Boss in 1850, he proposed placing a Christian monument on Mount Corcovado to honour Isabel, princess regent of Brazil but the Project was never approved.

In 1921 The Catholic Circle of Rio made a second proposal for a landmark statue on the mountain. The citizens organized an event called Semana do Monumento to support the building of the statue.

The designs considered for the "Statue of the Christ" included a representation of the Christian cross, a statue of Jesus with a globe in his hands, and a pedestal symbolizing the world. The statue of Christ the Redeemer with open arms was chosen.

The statue was designed by Hector da Silva. It was sculpted by Paul Landowski, but the face of the sculpture was created by Gheorghe Leonida

The material construction was reinforced concrete, and it weighs more than 1000 tons. The statue was built in 9 years, and it is 30 meters high. The opening ceremony was on October 12, 1931.

The Lightning system was replaced several times. And in 2003 was inaugurated a system of mechanic stairs, and elevators to facilitate the access.

Actually, the statue needs a periodically maintenance, due to the strong winds and erosion.

The Christ the Redeemer is an iconic statue, and it’s one of the new Seven Wonders of the World, it was chosen from the 21 finalist list. In Brazil was a campaign Vote no Cristo, where telecommunications companies sent messages to vote free and banks spent a lot of money for the statue was into the top seven. A lot of messages was presented on TV infomercials, even they use an airplane with a huge inscription “VOTE FOR CHRIST”

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