Christ the Redeemer

Christ the Redeemer Statue or Cristo Redentor is an Art Deco-style statue of Jesus located on the peak of Corcovado mountain in the Tijuca Forest National Park overlooking the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The giant statue was created by French sculptor Paul Landowski and built by Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa, in collaboration with French engineer Albert Caquot and Romanian sculptor Gheorghe Leonida. Christ the Redeemer differs considerably from its original design, as the initial plan was a large Christ with a globe in one hand and a cross in the other. Although the project organizers originally accepted the design, it later changed to the statue of today, with the arms spread out wide.

Christ the Redeemer is 30m high, excluding its 8m pedestal. The arms wide open stretch 28m wide. It is made of reinforced concrete and soapstone, weighs 635 metric tons (625 long, 700 short tons), and costs approximately $250,000 to build, much of which was raised through donations. In 1990, several organizations, including the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro, media company Grupo Globo, oil company Shell do Brasil, environmental regulator IBAMA, National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage, and the city government of Rio de Janeiro entered into an agreement to conduct restoration work. The restoration involved one hundred people and used more than 60,000 pieces of stone taken from the same quarry as the original statue.

Despite being one of the 7 new wonders of the world, Christ the Redeemer has only been officially awarded the status of World Heritage site by UNESCO in 2016. Even though UNESCO announced the status in 2012, the status only became official after the Brazilian authorities were given four years to report on their plans for protecting the likes of Flamengo Park, Sugarloaf Mountain, the Corcovado, Copacabana beach, the Botanical Garden and Tijuca forest. An official ceremony was held on December 13, 2016, at Tijuca National Park at Corcovado Hill to present the registration document of Rio de Janeiro city as “Carioca Landscapes between Mountain and Sea” on the UNESCO world heritage list.

Even though there are uncountable similar structures in the world, Christ the Redeemer is still considered a symbol of Christianity around the world. The statue has also become a cultural icon of both Rio de Janeiro and Brazil.

Official name: Christ the Redeemer
Situated in: Brazil
Built in: 1922 - 1931
Built by: Designed by sculptor Paul Landowski and built by engineer Heitor da Silva Costa in collaboration with Albert Caquot. Sculptor Gheorghe Leonida created the face
Designated by UNESCO: 2016