Everybody knows the famous statue of Christ the Redeemer representing Jesus Christ outstretching His arms over the city of Rio de Janeiro. In Brazilian, the statue is called Cristo Redentor and is located on the 700 m peak of Corcovado Mountain in Tijuca Forest National Park.
But not many people are familiar with a few of the facts that have led to the building of this statute. These facts are as follows:
- In the 1850s, Pedro Maria Boss, a Catholic priest firstly proposed the building of a religious edifice inside the city of Rio de Janeiro but this project was rejected to be once again proposed in 1921 by the Catholic Circle of Rio. This time, it was reported to public support and donations in order to have a religious monument representing the religious belief governing the country of Brazil.
- Once the project had managed to gather the money, things started to get moving with a local designer creating the overall designs and the style of this statue while a French-Polish sculptor (Paul Landowski) was hired to work on the statue. The work at Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro took more than 9 years to be finished in the form that we see today. But did you know that up to these days, in 2013, this statue has seen some damages that needed to be remediated? Later on this one.
- The materials used for building the statue were: reinforced concrete with soapstone on the outside. The thing is that with these materials the statue was easier to sculpt while conferring as well durability to the overall sculpture.
- The price that was paid back then for building this statue is the today equivalent of $3,250,000. In 1980 more restorations were brought to the statue while Pope John Paul II had announced his visit.
- Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro has seen as well damages brought by lighting in 2008 where the head, fingers, and eyebrows were damaged requiring as such repairs with a lot of restoration work to be done to the sculpture. In 2010 new restoration works were done to preserve the interior of the statue. At this point, a new lighting system has been added to light up the monument from its base platform.
- In 2010, the Christ the Redeemer statue of Rio de Janeiro was the victim of a vandalism act where someone sprayed graffiti on the head and right arm.
And to end on a more positive note, Christ the Redeemer was declared in 2007 one of the New Wonders of the World with many documentaries and films being made on this topic.