Rio’s Christ the Redeemer now 88 years old

One of the world’s most famous constructions—next to the Eiffel Tower, in Paris, and the Statue of Liberty, in New York—the monument of Christ the Redeemer, in Rio de Janeiro, last weekend celebrated 88 years since its inauguration. The celebration included a mass and a cake sliced at the foot of the statue.

One of the city’s most visited tourist attractions, the famous statue of Christ with his arms spread open was declared one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World in 2007.

Inaugurated on October 12, 1931, the day of Our Lady of Aparecida, Brazil’s patroness of Brazil, Christ the Redeemer has a chapel dedicated to Aparecida as part of its architecture.

Located atop the Corcovado mountain, 709 meters above sea level in the Tijuca National Park, the monument offers visitors a privileged view of most of the city of Rio de Janeiro and the Guanabara Bay.

It is among the world’s most visited monuments and has a dedicated railway to take tourists to the place, as well as a road for cars.

History

Christ the Redeemer was designed by Heitor da Silva Costa, with drawings by Painter Carlos Oswald and sculptures by Maximiliam Paul Landoswky, in charge of the statue’s head and hands.

Reinforced concrete specialist Albert Caquot and engineers Heitor Levy and Pedro Fernandes Viana also participated in the project.

The construction was erected between 1922 and 1931 at the request of the archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro.