Christ the Redeemer Statue, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Christ the Redeemer, is an Art Deco statue, of Jesus Christ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, created by French sculptor, Paul Landowski, and built by Brazilian engineer, Heitor da Silva Costa, in collaboration with French engineer, Albert Caquot. Romanian sculptor, Gheorghe Leonida, fashioned the face. Constructed between 1922, and 1931, the statue is 30 metres high, excluding its 8-metre pedestal. The arms stretch 28 metres wide. It is made of reinforced concrete, and soapstone. The Christ the Redeemer, differs considerably, from its original design. 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.

The statue weighs 635 metric tons, and is located at the peak of, the 700 metre Corcovado mountain, in the Tijuca National Park, overlooking the city of Rio de Janeiro. A symbol of Christianity around the world, the statue has also become a cultural icon, of both Rio de Janeiro and Brazil, and was voted, one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, in 2007.

It was considered, the largest Christ statue in the world, from 1931 until 2010, when it was topped by the Christ the King statue, in Poland. The Christ the Redeemer statue, is visited by nearly 2 million people each year.

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.