the city ofRio de Janeiro has numerous postcards. One of the most iconic is Christ the Redeemer, famous for being one of the SevenMwonders of Mundo Modern. But when was this monument created? By whom? How was it made? See all the details!
The idea
It all started in 1859, when the French Lazarist Father Pierre-Marie Boss, from the Igreja do Colégio Imaculada Conceição, had the dream of building a religious monument on top of Monte Corcovado, which is 710 meters long. height. The priest registered this idea in the book “Imitation of Christ”, from 1903.
The priest's proposal began to materialize in the preparations for the centenary of the Independence of Brazil, celebrated in 1922. A year earlier, a dispute was opened between the projects for the monument. The winner was Heitor da Silva Costa.
At the same time, more than 22,000 women signed a petition to ask the president of Brazil at the time, Epitacio Pessoa, authorization for the construction of the monument.
The idea was that the Christ was built only with donations from Brazilians. For this purpose, in 1923, the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro launched the Monument week, in which 1,000 contos de réis were collected. Years later, new collections were made. In total, the construction cost 2,500 contos de reis, equivalent to R$9.5 million
1.the monument
The creators of Cristo Redentor are the designer Heitor da Silva Costa, the painter Carlos Oswald and the sculptor Maximiliam Paul Landowsky, who sculpted the head and hands of the monument.
Christ the Redeemer stands with open arms, forming a cross, and is 38 meters high, equivalent to a 13-story building. Of this total, 30 meters are from the monument and eight from the pedestal. Each arm has an area of 88 square meters and the foot measures 1.35 meters. The head alone weighs 30 tons.
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The monument was built in Brazil, except for the head and hands, which were molded in Paris, France. Christ's body was made of soapstone, which was cut into thousands of triangles. They were hand-glued onto a fabric and then applied to the statue by pastilles.
The only part designed for the interior of the building is the heart of Christ the Redeemer, which measures 1.30 meters. The interior is made up of 12 plateaus, connected by stairs, forming floors that open up in the arms and head. The monument is prepared to resist winds of up to 250 km/h.
Heart of Christ the Redeemer measures 1.30 meters**
Christ the Redeemer was inaugurated on October 12, 1931 and was attended by pilgrims from all over the world.
Stay tuned!
To get to the monument, you need patience and willingness, as the tour can take a few hours, especially on weekends or holidays. You can go by train, by van or on foot. Opening hours are from 8am to 7pm. Entrance fee is charged.
1Data for 2016.
*Image Credit: lazyllama / Shutterstock.com
**Image Credit: Tero Hakala / Shutterstock.com
By Silvia Tancredi
Brazil School Team
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
TANCREDI, Silvia. "History of Christ the Redeemer"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/curiosidades/historia-cristo-redentor.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
