The Christ statue of Rio de Janeiro (Christ of salvation, Portuguese: Cristo Redentor), also known as the Brazilian Christ statue, is a large decorative art style Jesus Christ statue, located on the Monte Cristo in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the symbol of the city and one of the most famous memorial sculptures in the world.
It was completed in 1931, with a total height of 38 meters, a huge volume, and a weight of 1145 tons. The distance between the fingers of the left and right hands reached 23 meters. The Jesus Christ in the statue wears a robe and holds his arms flat. He overlooks the beautiful panorama of Rio de Janeiro at the foot of the mountain, which indicates the spirit of fraternity and praise for independence. Jesus looks like facing the Atlantic Ocean, with his open arms, looking from a distance, like a huge cross, looking solemn and dignified. The figure of Jesus Christ is integrated with the mountains. Some clouds float between the mountains from time to time, making the image of Jesus looming and making him more mysterious and holy. The huge statue of Jesus is built on the top of this mountain. It can be seen from most parts of the city during the day and at night. It has become the most famous symbol of Rio de Janeiro, a famous city in Brazil. [1]
On July 7, 2007, the statue of Christ became one of the seven new wonders of the world. The statue of Christ is located on the top of the 710 meter high kokovado (also known as humpback mountain or Jesus mountain) in the National Forest Park of Rio de Janeiro, overlooking the whole city of Rio de Janeiro. Jesus opened his arms to welcome tourists from all over the world, which is a symbol of the warm reception and broad mind of the Brazilian people.

The idea of building a statue on the Corcovado mountain began in the mid-1850s, when a Catholic priest Pedro Maria BOS asked Princess Isabel of the Brazilian Empire to raise funds to build a large religious monument. Princess Isabel did not care much about this idea, but when Brazil became a republic in 1889, this idea was completely rejected by the government, because the law at that time mandated the separation of church and state.
More than 70 years later, in 1921, the idea of building a religious landmark was proposed again, this time by the Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro. The Archbishop organized an activity called "memorial statue week" to attract donations, and also held a Christ statue competition around the world to see who can design the best Christ statue. The design requirements of the Christ image include: there must be a cross representing Christianity, a statue of Jesus Christ holding the earth and a base representing the world.
Finally, after strict evaluation, the French monument sculptor Paul randowski won the competition, and the shape of "the Christ of salvation with open arms" designed by him was finally recognized.
This memorial statue was designed by the French monument sculptor Paul landowski and supervised by the local engineer heto da Silva cosca. A group of engineers and technicians studied randowski's design and decided to replace steel with reinforced concrete to better fit the cross shaped statue. Koska and randowski decided to use talc as the outer material of the statue, because it has high flexibility and can resist bad weather. Rio de Janeiro also specially built a railway up the mountain of cocovado, so as to transport the large stones needed to build the statue to the top of the mountain.
Christ statue of Rio de Janeiro
Christ statue of Rio de Janeiro (6)
On October 12, 1931, a grand inauguration ceremony was held on the Corcovado mountain. The then president of Brazil, gertulio Vargas, cut the ribbon for the statue. This day is the commemoration day of the virgin of Brazil's patron saint Aparecida - the day of the virgin's Epiphany (also known as the patron saint's day). One of the highlights of the completion ceremony was the start of the lighting system. It was originally planned that Marconi, the Italian inventor, would start the switch from his cruise ship in Naples through the radio invented by him. However, due to the bad weather conditions on that day, the signal strength was affected. Finally, it had to be manually started by the staff on the cocovado mountain.
On October 12, 2006, at the 75th anniversary celebration of the statue, cardinal Othello Oscar Zeid, the Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, celebrated Mass for the day of the virgin's Epiphany under the statue and listed the statue of Christ as a holy place for pilgrimage.

Tourists can travel up the mountain by road or by the cocovado mountain railway. In the past, people had to climb 222 steps to reach the statue after the train reached the terminal, which was a big obstacle to the disabled and the elderly. During the renovation of the historic site in 2002, three panoramic lifts and four escalators were installed near the statue. In addition, there is a somewhat laborious shortcut to the top of the mountain from pacqui Park in yadinpocanico district. Another way to climb the mountain is to charter a car. After passing through the winding mountain road through the tijuka jungle, you can arrive at the parking lot in the narrow hinterland of the mountain. The congestion can be imagined. On the return journey, you can go to the Dona Marte Belvedere. Because it is located on the hillside of 396 meters, you can not only view the beautiful scenery of Rio from a close distance, but also enjoy the statue of Christ from another angle. Because of its excellent location, Therefore, it has become a shooting place for many advertisers and famous models.

The statue of Jesus is 30 meters high, and if the pedestal is added, it is 38 meters high. Jesus' head is 3.75 meters, one hand is 3.2 meters long, and the distance between his two hands is 28 meters (another says 30 meters). The head weighs 30 tons, the single hand is 8 tons, the arm is 57 tons, and the total weight is 1145 tons. In order to prevent the salinization of the sea from damaging the statue of Jesus, the United States donated some titanium to Brazil to protect the statue of Jesus. As for the filling of the statue of Jesus, it was a mixture of sand, sugar and whale oil. At that time, it was widely used in buildings, but it contained salt. Therefore, before the completion of the construction, the principle of electricity was used to destroy the chemical structure of the salt to ensure the safety of the statue of Jesus. Even with careful protection, over time, the statue of Jesus still needs to be repaired. If you look carefully, you will find that the color of Jesus' body is not the same because of the different stones repaired. The overall assembly is made of cement. The major components are made in France and assembled in Brazil, which is similar to the statue of liberty. The giant statue is equipped with an elevator. The statue of Jesus has been standing on the coast of Rio for more than 75 years. It is one of the most famous landmarks in Brazil. It can be seen from almost every angle in the urban area of Rio!
A flash of lightning hit the famous landmark Jesus Christ.
A flash of lightning hit the famous landmark Jesus Christ. [3]
At that time, the artist Carlos Oswaldo proposed the design drawing of Jesus carrying a cross, holding a globe in his hand, and stepping on the cornerstone of the symbolic world. However, the Rio people chose another design of Jesus with open arms, that is, the shape of Jesus mountain seen now.
Whether you take a small train, drive or walk, you must first take a transparent elevator, then take an open-air escalator or climb stairs to see the statue of Jesus at the top of the mountain. From behind the statue of Jesus to the top of the mountain, you will see the long cherished image of Jesus. There are three transparent elevators, each of which can hold 14 people. In order to protect the environment and save electricity, these elevators are from France like Jesus. In order to relieve the crowd, there is a shift every six minutes at the slowest. The escalators are imported from Germany. There are four escalators, two up and two down, each 6 meters long and 30 degrees slope. You can look at the sea during the journey.
These elevators and escalators are called "invisible projects". Rio people have long been used to seeing the image of Jesus as soon as they look up. The setting of elevators and escalators must take into account the landscape, and there can be no superfluous things in the field of vision. At the beginning, I did many tests to ensure that I could never see any man-made facilities from the bottom of the mountain. These elevators and escalators are built on the original natural landscape. For example, they are made with the same slope as the mountain, covered by natural green trees and painted with green paint. The transparent window of the elevator is special glass, which will not reflect even when the sun shines.