Sculpted by the French-Polish artist Paul Landowski and built by the engineer Heitor da Silva Costa (1922–1931)
The Romanian sculptor Gheorghe Leonida made the face; the French engineer Albert Caquot worked on the structure
Geography · Landmarks & wonders
Christ the Redeemer
built 1922–1931
Brazil — Rio de Janeiro, the summit of Corcovado
The Art Deco figure of Jesus with arms outstretched on the peak of Corcovado above Rio de Janeiro, built between 1922 and 1931 in reinforced concrete faced with mosaic soapstone tiles. Sculpted by the French-Polish artist Paul Landowski and engineered by Heitor da Silva Costa, it was voted one of the New7Wonders of the World in 2007 and is the emblem of both the city and Brazilian Catholicism.
How to spot them
- ▸Quiz clue: 'Corcovado', 'Paul Landowski', 'Heitor da Silva Costa', 'soapstone', 'Tijuca'
- ▸Art Deco, in reinforced concrete clad with thousands of small soapstone tiles
- ▸Arms outstretched 28 metres, on a peak 700 m above a harbour city
- ▸Opened in 1931, in the year of a Brazilian revolution's aftermath
Key facts
It stands on the summit of Corcovado, some 700 m above the city
Inside the Tijuca National Park; a rack railway has climbed the mountain since 1884
Reinforced concrete faced with thousands of small triangular soapstone tiles
The soft stone was easy to work and resists the weather; volunteers helped glue the tiles to backing fabric
The original design had the figure holding a globe in one hand and a cross in the other
It was changed to the open-armed pose that reads as a cross from a distance
Funded largely by public donation after a Catholic circle petitioned for a monument on the peak (1920s)
A Catholic lay association in Rio ran the subscription campaign in the early 1920s
A 2007 New7Wonders winner, and the only one of them made of reinforced concrete and soapstone (2007)
The only one of the seven built in the 20th century
Lightning strikes it several times a year, once breaking off a thumb
A storm in 2014 chipped fingers and the head; repairs used soapstone stockpiled from the original quarry
Quick-fire facts
- •The figure is 30 m high, on an 8 m pedestal, with arms spanning 28 m
- •It was inaugurated on 12 October 1931
- •It faces east, out towards the sunrise and the sea
- •Corcovado lies within the UNESCO World Heritage Site 'Rio de Janeiro: Carioca Landscapes between the Mountain and the Sea', inscribed in 2012
- •A small chapel was consecrated in the base in 2006, on the statue's 75th anniversary
- •Common misconception: it is nowhere near the tallest statue of Jesus — Poland's Christ the King and Bolivia's Cristo de la Concordia are both taller, and it is dwarfed by Asian statues such as the Spring Temple Buddha
- •Another misconception: it is not carved from stone but cast in reinforced concrete and merely clad in soapstone
Drill it — 7 cards
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Sources
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre — Rio de Janeiro: Carioca Landscapes between the Mountain and the Sea
- Ruy Castro — Rio de Janeiro: Carnival Under Fire