Cristo Redentor (Rio de Janeiro)

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Front view from the visitor platform
View of the statue from the helicopter
Size comparison with other statues: Statue of Unity (India), Spring Temple Buddha (Lushan), Statue of Liberty (New York), Mother Home Statue (Volgograd), Cristo Redentor and Michelangelo's David (Florence)

Cristo Redentor (“ Christ , the Redeemer”) is a monumental statue of Christ in the south of Rio de Janeiro ( Brazil ) on the Corcovado mountain . The 30-meter-high statue in Art Deco style dates from 1931. It became the model for numerous other large Christ statues . A chapel is located in the approximately eight meter high base .

history

The erection of the statue of Christ was originally planned on the occasion of Brazil's centenary of independence (declaration of independence in 1822, recognized by Portugal in 1825). The designs come from the Brazilian civil engineer Heitor da Silva Costa . They were created in collaboration with the French engineer Albert Caquot . Construction of the statue began in 1922; Financing problems delayed the construction for almost ten years before the inauguration on October 12, 1931, with the support of the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro , the Holy See and France . The head and hands were made from plaster models that the Polish-French sculptor Paul Landowski had made in his studio near Paris. On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of its construction, the statue was declared a place of pilgrimage in 2006 .

description

The statue is 30 meters high and stands on an eight meter high pedestal, surrounded by the Tijuca National Park in the southern part of the city. She looks at the Sugar Loaf . It was the tallest statue of Christ in the world from 1931 to 1981 and is currently (2016) the sixth tallest (together with the blessing Christ of Manado ). In the base there is a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Aparecida. The span of the arms is 28 meters, the total weight 1145 tons. The building material is reinforced concrete covered with a mosaic of soapstone . The inside of the statue, which is only accessible to maintenance personnel, consists of a reinforced concrete frame in the form of a cross, the crossbeam of which forms the supporting structure for the arms. A staircase with numerous steps leads to the head of the statue; a horizontal inspection corridor runs on the crossbar up to the hands. There is a narrow hatch on the head and right shoulder through which maintenance personnel can get outside and thus to the outside of the statue.

Cristo Redentor became the model for numerous other Christ statues, such as the 28 meter high Cristo Rei of Almada , which was inaugurated south of Lisbon in 1959 . On July 7th, 2007 it was announced in Lisbon that the statue was chosen as one of the " new seven wonders of the world ". In December 1999, the Austrian object jumper Felix Baumgartner jumped from the statue's right arm with a parachute. He had previously climbed a rope that had been shot with a crossbow.

and display information about the image
180 ° panorama

Damage

The statue is repeatedly damaged by storms; For example, in January 2014 she lost part of the tip of her right middle finger to a lightning strike. After inspection by specialists, the damage was repaired and a new lightning rod attached to the statue. In April 2010, the statue was graffitied by unknown perpetrators. It was the first such incident in the statue's 80-year history. The graffiti was removed shortly afterwards.

literature

  • Neil Parkyn: Seventy Architectural Wonders. Frederking & Thaler Verlag, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-89405-536-7 .
  • Lucinda Riley: The Seven Sisters . The novel takes on the planning and creation of the statue of Christ in Paris, its transport to Rio and its erection as a framework for the story.

Web links

Commons : Cristo Redentor  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ^ Sanctuary status for Rio landmark. In: BBC.co.uk . October 13, 2006, accessed January 22, 2014 .
  2. ↑ Christ the Redeemer In: Encyclopedia Britannica Online
  3. ↑ Arms wide open. Documentation from BBC News from 2014
  4. ↑ Picture of the Day: Base Jumping in Rio . Report about the jump on twistedsifter.com (English)
  5. ^ Repair of the Christ statue in Rio. (No longer available online.) In: tagesschau.de . January 22, 2014, archived from the original on January 23, 2014 ; accessed on January 22, 2014 .

Coordinates: 22 ° 57 ′ 5.7 ″  S , 43 ° 12 ′ 38.7 ″  W.