Home >Christ the Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Christ the Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is the most well known statue of Jesus Christ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Located at the summit of the 2,300 ft tall Corcovado Mountain in the Tijuca Forest National Park, the120 ft tall statue overlooks the city of Rio.  Christ the Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil weighs 635 tons and is the tallest of its kind in the world. The statue is made of reinforced concrete and soapstone. Christ the Redeemer as a symbol of Christianity has become an icon of Rio and Brazil

The idea for putting up a large statue atop Corcovado Mountain had been around since mid 1850s. It was the Catholic priest, Pedro Maria Boss, who requested financing from Princess Isabel to build a large religious monument. Princess Isabel did not approve much of the idea and it was completely dismissed in 1889, but when Brazil became a Republic, with laws mandating the separation of church and state this statue was finally built.

In October 2006, to clebrate the statue's 75th anniversary, Archbishop of Rio Cardinal Eusebio Oscar Scheid consecrated a chapel (named for the patron saint of Brazil - Nossa Senhora Aparecida) under the statue. This allows the Catholics to hold baptisms, weddings and various religious ceremonies there.

  In July 2007, Christ the Redeemer was named among the New Seven Wonders of the World in a list compiled by the Swiss-based The New Open World Corporation. In Brazil there was a campaign Vote no Cristo, which meant Vote for the Christ. It had the support of private companies too. Additionally, leading corporate sponsors including Banco Bradesco and Rede Globo spent "millions" of dollars in the effort to have the statue voted into the top seven.