Statue of Christ the Redeemer

The height of the statue - 38 m, including the pedestal - 8 m; arm span - 28 m. Weight - 635 tons. Being the highest point of the neighborhood, the statue regularly (on average, four times a year) becomes the target of lightning . The Catholic Diocese specially stores a reserve of stone, from which the statue was erected, to restore parts of the statue damaged by lightning ^[1] .

The statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro is one of the most famous and popular monuments in the world. Every year at least 1.8 million tourists ^[2] climb to its foot, offering a panoramic view of the city and bay with the picturesque Sugar Loaf Mountain ( port. Pão de Açúcar ), the famous beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema , the huge bowl of the Maracana Stadium .

An electrified railway leads to the top (the first in Brazil), with a miniature train plying on it. It was built by engineers Pereira Passos and Terceira Soares before the statue of Christ - in 1882-1884, and later played an important role in the construction of the monument: building materials were delivered up to it.

You can also get to the statue by car along the motorway that passes through Tijuka National Park. Tizhuka Forest is the largest forest in the world, located within the city limits.

In 1921, the upcoming centenary anniversary of Brazil’s national independence (1822) inspired the city’s fathers — Rio de Janeiro, then the capital of Brazil — to create the statue of Christ the Redeemer. The magazine "Cruzeiro" announced a fundraiser for a subscription to the construction of the monument. As a result of the campaign, more than 2.5 million flights were collected. ^[3] The church also joined the fundraising: the then Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, don Sebastien Leme, took a large part in the creation of the monument.

The construction of the statue lasted about nine years - from 1922 to 1931.

The original sketch of the monument was designed by artist Carlos Oswald. It was he who proposed to depict Christ with his hands outstretched in a blessing gesture, which would make the figure look like a huge cross from afar. In the original version, the pedestal for the statue should have the shape of the globe. The final draft of the monument was designed by Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa ( port. Heitor da Silva Costa ).

Since for a number of reasons, including technological ones, it was impossible to create such a huge sculpture in Brazil at that time, all its details, including the frame, were made in France . The statue was made of reinforced concrete and soap powder .

In 1924, the French sculptor Paul Landowski completed modeling of the head (height 3.75 meters) and the hands of the statue. After that, the Romanian sculptor worked on the creation of the head of Christ from 1925 to 1931. Disassembled, all the details of the monument were delivered to Brazil and were transported by rail to the top of Mount Corcovado.

A winding staircase of 220 steps, nicknamed "Caracol" ("Snail"), was arranged from the end point of the railroad track to the foot of the statue, and there is a small chapel deep in the marble basement.

On October 12, 1931, the grand opening and consecration of the monument, which became a symbol of Rio de Janeiro, took place.

In 1965, the statue was re-consecrated by Pope Paul VI , and in 1981, Pope John Paul II attended the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the monument.

Over the past 45 years, the statue was repaired twice - in 1980 and 1990. In 1932 and 2000, the night illumination system was upgraded . In 2003, the ascent leading to the observation deck was equipped with escalators.

In 2007, the statue was chosen as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World .

On October 26, 2007, for the first time in history, the hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church and the ROCOR held Orthodox services at the statue. A number of officials and businessmen who arrived in Rio de Janeiro during the Days of Russia in Latin America ^[4] attended the service.

On April 16, 2010, for the first time in its history, the statue was vandalized. The inscriptions on the face and hands of the statue were painted in black ^[5] .

In 2012, UNESCO considered “Christ the Redeemer” part of the Rio de Janeiro landscape included in the World Heritage List .

As noted in the Brazilian Space Research Institute, the statue has an average of four lightning strikes annually . In December 2013 and in the evening of January 16, 2014, during a strong storm, lightning struck the right hand of the statue, chipping off the tips of the middle and thumb ^[6] .

In cinema art

• In the film “1 + 1”, the main characters arrive in Rio de Janeiro and hover over a statue from the mountain on a paraglider.
• “ Life after people ” - the statue is shown after 3 days (electricity is cut off in Rio de Janeiro), 50 years (the hands of the statue break off and fall down), 250 years (the statue is completely destroyed) and after 500 years without people (the base of the statue , together with protruding pieces of the frame, overgrown).
• " 2012 " - the statue is destroyed due to an earthquake (the destruction is shown in the special news, which is seen in the White House ( WA )). The destruction of the statue is shown on one of the posters for the film (only here the statue blows down a tsunami).
• In the TV movie , ice fog covers the statue.
• In the movie Twilight. Saga. New Moon "(the scene when Edward learns about Bella's death) and in the movie" Twilight. Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 ".
• In the series " In the name of love ", " Prospect Brazil ", "Family Ties" , "Clone" .
• In the series “The City of Men” (City of People) “ Cidade dos Homens ” 2002–2005, as well as in the 2007 film of the same name (translated in the Russian box office “ City of God 2 ”), the statue is shown after the initial credits and throughout the film.
• In the series CSI: Miami, the statue is shown in season 5.
• In the film “ Agent 117: Mission in Rio ”.
• In the movie Fast and Furious 5, the main characters live at the foot of Corcovado Mountain, a lot of beautiful panoramas depicting a statue.
• In the film Zalman King Wild Orchid (1989), Emilia goes to Rio de Janeiro and flies past the statue at the 6th minute of the picture.
• “Rio, I love you” - in one of the stories the hero refers to the statue of Christ.

• Statue of christ in portugal
• The Colossus of Rhodes
• Statue of Liberty in New York
• Motherland in Volgograd
• "Motherland" in Kiev
• Monument to Peter I in Moscow
• Statue of Christ the King in Swiebodzin
• List of the tallest statues of the world
• Christ from the abyss

• Scheme of the complex (port.)
• 3D model for use in Google Earth