Christ the Redeemer is an Art Deco statue of Jesus Christ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
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. It is 30 metres tall, not including
its 8 metres pedestal, and its arms stretch 28 metres wide.
The statue weighs 635 tonnes, and is located at the peak of the 700-metre Corcovado mountain
in the Tijuca Forest National Park overlooking the city. A symbol of Brazilian Christianity,
the statue has become an icon for Rio de Janeiro and Brazil. It is made of reinforced concrete
and soapstone, and was constructed between 1922 and 1931.
History
The idea of building a large statue atop Corcovado was first suggested in the mid-1850s, when
Vincentian priest, Pedro Maria Boss, suggested placing a Christian monument on Mount Corcovado
to honour Princess Isabel, princess regent of Brazil and the daughter of Emperor Pedro II;
Princess Isabel did not act on this request. In 1889, the country became a republic and,
with the official separation of state and church, the idea was dismissed.
The second proposal for a landmark statue on the mountain was made in 1920, by the Catholic
Circle of Rio. The group organized an event called Semana do Monumento to attract donations
and collect signatures to support the building of the statue. The donations came mostly from
Brazilian Catholics. The designs considered for the "Statue of the Christ" included a
representation of the Christian cross, a statue of Jesus with a globe in his hands, and a
pedestal symbolizing the world. The statue of Christ the Redeemer with open arms, a symbol
of peace, was chosen.
Local engineer Heitor da Silva Costa designed the statue; it was sculpted by Polish-French
sculptor Paul Landowski. The face of the statue was created by Romanian
sculptor Gheorghe Leonida, who was born in Galati, Romania, in 1893. He studied sculpture
at the Fine Arts Conservatory in Bucharest, then, after three more years' study in Italy,
he won a prize for the sculpture Reveil. After that he moved to Paris, where his work, Le
Diable, was awarded the Grand Prix. Becoming famous in France as portraitist, he was included
by Paul Landowski in the team that started working on Christ the Redeemer in 1922. Gheorghe
Leonida contributed by portraying Jesus Christ's face on the statue, which made him famous.
A group of engineers and technicians studied Landowski's submissions and the decision was
made to build the structure out of reinforced concrete instead of steel, more suitable for
the cross-shaped statue. The outer layers are soapstone, chosen for its enduring qualities
and ease of use. Construction took nine years, from 1922 to 1931 and cost the equivalent
of US$250,000. The monument was opened on October 12, 1931. During the opening ceremony,
the statue was meant to be lit by a battery of floodlights which would be turned on remotely
by shortwave radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi, stationed 5,700 miles away in Rome, Italy,
but poor weather affected the signal and they had to be turned on by workers in Rio.
In October 2006, on the 75th anniversary of the statue's completion, Archbishop of Rio,
Cardinal Eusebio Oscar Scheid, consecrated a chapel, named after Brazil's patron saint—Our
Lady of the Apparition, under the statue. This allows Catholics to hold baptisms and
weddings there. The statue was struck by lightning during
a violent thunderstorm on February 10, 2008, and suffered some damage to the fingers, head
and eyebrows. A restoration effort was put in place by the Rio de Janeiro state government
to replace some of the outer soapstone layers and repair the lightning rods installed on
the statue. It was damaged by lightning again, on January 17, 2014, where a finger on the
right hand was dislodged. In 2010, a massive restoration of the statue
was undertaken. The statue was washed, the mortar and soapstone that cover the statue
were replaced, the internal structure of iron was restored, and the monument was made waterproof.
One incident which occurred during the restoration, was an act of vandalism, wherein paint was
sprayed along the arm. Mayor Eduardo Paes called the act "a crime against the nation".
The culprits later apologised and presented themselves to the police.
Restoration
In 1990, further restoration work was conducted through an agreement among several organizations,
including the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro, media company Rede Globo, oil company Shell
do Brasil, environmental regulator IBAMA, National Institute of Historic and Artistic
Heritage, and the city government of Rio de Janeiro.
More work on the statue and its environs was conducted in 2003 and early 2010. In 2003,
a set of escalators, walkways, and elevators were installed to facilitate access to the
platform surrounding the statue. The four-month restoration in 2010, focused on the statue
itself. The statue's internal structure was renovated and its soapstone mosaic covering
was restored by removing a crust of fungi and other microorganisms and repairing small
cracks. The lightning rods located in the statue’s head and arms were also repaired,
and new lighting fixtures were installed at the foot of the statue.
The restoration involved one hundred people and used more than 60,000 pieces of stone
taken from the same quarry as the original statue. During the unveiling of the restored
statue, it was illuminated with green-and-yellow lighting in support of the Brazil national
football team playing in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Maintenance work needs to be conducted periodically due to the strong winds and erosion to which
the statue is exposed, as well as lightning strikes. The original pale stone is no longer
available in sufficient quantities, and replacement stones are increasingly darker in hue.
See also Monumento al Divino Salvador del Mundo, Monument
to the Savior of the World San Salvador City, El Salvador
Cristo Redentore, Christ the Redeemer of Maratea, Italy
Christ of Vung Tau in Vietnam Christ Blessing in Manado, North Sulawesi,
Indonesia Cristo-Rei in Lisbon, Portugal
Cristo Rei of Dili: a 27 metre high statue in Dili, Timor-Leste
Cerro del Cubilete in Guanajuato, Mexico: a 23 metre high statue inspired by Christ
the Redeemer Christ of the Ozarks in Arkansas, United States:
a 20 metre high statue inspired by Christ the Redeemer
Christ of Havana in Havana, Cuba: a 20 metre high statue inspired by Christ the Redeemer
Christ the Redeemer of the Andes Cristo de la Concordia in Cochabamba, Bolivia
Cristo de las Noas in Torreón, Mexico Christ of the Abyss in various underwater
locations Christ the King, 33 metres tall and weighing
440 tonnes, in Świebodzin, Poland Cristo del Pacífico, Lima, Peru, a 7 metre
high statue erected in 2011 Christ the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Ibiza, Spain:
a 23 metre high statue inspired by Christ the Redeemer
List of statues by height Gallery
References
External links Official web site
Map Government bulletin about the statue's restoration
Poliakoff, Martyn. "Soapstone @ Cristo Redentor". The Periodic Table of Videos. University of
Nottingham.