The Cristo Redentor is without a doubt an iconic statue. It has been sitting on the Corcovado Mountain for about 90 years now and is guarding the city of Rio since then.
The statue is well-known by many different names like Christ Redeemer statue or Christ – the Redeemer. Students even refer to it as the Corcovado statue or Christ of Corcovado. Irrespective of what it is addressed as – it is surely magnificent compared to any Christ the Redeemer statue around the world.
However, tourists sometimes wonder what exactly makes this particular statue of Christ the Redeemer so famous. It is surely not the tallest, as it is only 125 feet tall (which includes the pedestal). It was inaugurated on 12th Oct 1931, so it isn’t very old either. So, why is it considered iconic? Well, there is no one answer to this question.
There are so many aspects and facts related to the Brazil Statue of Jesus that makes it iconic. Before we go ahead and discuss some fun facts about the Cristo Redentor, if you wish to check out other Christ Redeemers statues of the world, simply go to the travel blog of James Smith – Only by Land. He has traveled over 100 different countries all via land routes, and thus has given plenty of travel and photography tips on his blog.
Top 7 worth knowing facts about Cristo Redentor
- The first specimen of the statue was made in France by Paul Landowski. He created the statue in clay pieces. These pieces were carefully shipped to Brazil and remade Brazilian and French engineers, Heitor da Silva Costa and Albert Caquot, using reinforced concrete.
- It took 9 years to construct this statue and the Brazilian Catholic Community spent over $250,000 for this work.
- The original design of the statue was pretty different from the final version that we see today. Initially, Christ was designed to hold a cross in one hand and a globe in another.
- The statue was built using secured concrete. The outer layer has nearly 6 million soapstone tiles. Now, the fun fact is – the workers who did the tiling work often wrote messages on the back of these tiles. This means, the statue is full of hidden messages.
- Since the statue is placed at a very high position, it gets struck by lightning around 3 to 6 times a year. Recently, before the 2014 FIFA World Cup, one of the statue’s thumbs was broken because it was struck by lightning.
- The statue was voted as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in 2007.
- If Cristo Redentor is compared to other statues of Jesus around the world, it surely is the largest one. It is 30 meters tall and 28 meters wide.
Well, so you see how unique this particular statue of Christ is and why exactly 2 million tourists visit it every year. Now, if you are still not sure about visiting it, remember one thing, the real thing is much more than what you see in the pictures.
