Christ Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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This Art Deco-style statue of Jesus, which was inaugurated in 1931, stands some 38 meters (125 ft) tall, atop the Corcovado (“hunchback”) mountain overlooking Rio de Janeiro. As well as being a potent
symbol of Christianity, the statue has become an icon of the city and a symbol of the great warmth of the Brazilian people. (see our sightseeing tours)
The idea for erecting a large statue on Corcovado started in the mid-1850s, when a Catholic priest, Dom Pedro Maria Boss, asked for financing for a large religious monument from Princess Isabel of Portugal.
She was not interested and the idea died completely in 1889, when Brazil became a republic with laws about separating church and state.
The second proposal for a large landmark statue on the mountain came in 1921 from the Archdiocese of Rio de Janiero, which organized an event called Semana do Monumento ("Monument Week") to collect donations from people all over Brazil.
Designed by the local engineer Heitor da Silva Costa and created by French sculptor Paul Landowski,
Christ Redeemer is one of the world’s best-known monuments. The statue, which took five years to build, is made out of reinforced concrete, with the outer layers made from soapstone because of this stone being easy to work with and resistant to extreme weather. The Corcovado Rack Railway played an important part in the building effort, as the only way to get the large pieces of the statue to the top of the mountain was by train.
One of the highlights of the inauguration ceremony on October 12, 1931 was supposed to be the
activation of the lighting system by the Italian radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi from his yacht far away in Naples, Italy. Bad weather, however, affected the strength of the signal and the lights had to be switched on manually by workers at Corcovado. On January 20, 2003, technology brought another change to the monument—panoramic elevators and escalators were inaugurated, so it is no longer necessary to climb up 220 steps to see the statue up close.
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