#20 Cristo Redentor (Statue of Christ the Redeemer), Rio de Janeiro, BRAZIL

Keeping a watchful eye over the people of Rio de Janeiro, the Statue of Christ the Redeemer (or Cristo Redentor) sits atop Corcovado 2,300 feet (700 meters) above the city. It was voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in 2007.

The largest art deco statue in the world, it is 130 ft (39 m) tall and the arms measure 98 ft (30 m) across. Made of reinforced concrete and sandstone the statue was unveiled in 1931.

On a clear day the views from the base of the statue are fantastic. At night the statue is lit up and seemingly hovers over the city as the mountain it stands on is dark.  If it is cloudy the clouds light up and the effect can be quite spectacular and ethereal.

Christ the Redeemer, Portuguese Cristo Redentor,  colossal statue of Jesus Christ at the summit ofMount Corcovado, Rio de Janeiro, southeastern Brazil. It was completed in 1931 and stands 98 feet (30 metres) tall, its horizontally outstretched arms spanning 92 feet (28 metres). The statue, made of reinforced concrete clad in a mosaic of thousands of triangular soapstone tiles, sits on a square stone pedestal base about 26 feet (8 metres) high, which itself is situated on a deck atop the mountain’s summit. The statue is the largest Art Deco-style sculpture in the world and is one of Rio de Janeiro’s most recognizable landmarks.

In the 1850s the Vincentian priest Pedro Maria Boss suggested placing a Christian monument on Mount Corcovado to honour Isabel, princess regent of Brazil and the daughter of Emperor Pedro II, although the project was never approved. In 1921 the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro proposed that a statue of Christ be built on the 2,310-foot (704-metre) summit, which, because of its commanding height, would make it visible from anywhere in Rio. Citizens petitioned Pres. Epitácio Pessoa to allow the construction of the statue on Mount Corcovado.

Permission was granted, and the foundation stone of the base was ceremonially laid on April 4, 1922—to commemorate the centennial on that day of Brazil’s independence from Portugal—although the monument’s final design had not yet been chosen. That same year a competition was held to find a designer, and the Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa was chosen on the basis of his sketches of a figure of Christ holding a cross in his right hand and the world in his left. In collaboration with Brazilian artist Carlos Oswald, Silva Costa later amended the plan; Oswald has been credited with the idea for the figure’s standing pose with arms spread wide. The French sculptor Paul Landowski, who collaborated with Silva Costa on the final design, has been credited as the primary designer of the figure’s head and hands. Funds were raised privately, principally by the church. Under Silva Costa’s supervision, construction began in 1926 and continued for five years. During that time materials and workers were transported to the summit via railway.

After its completion, the statue was dedicated on October 12, 1931. Over the years it has undergone periodic repairs and renovations, including a thorough cleaning in 1980, in preparation for the visit of Pope John Paul II to Brazil that year, and a major project in 2010, when the surface was repaired and refurbished. Escalators and panoramic elevators were added beginning in 2002; previously, in order to reach the statue itself, tourists climbed more than 200 steps as the last stage of the trip. In 2006, to mark the statue’s 75th anniversary, a chapel at its base was consecrated to Our Lady of Aparecida, the patron saint of Brazil.

This panorama can be opened in several different resolutions. High resolution panorama with the best quality is about 7 Mb large and it is suitable for fast internet connections and modern computers. For slower internet and old weak computers we created the smaller low resolution panorama. Some small details have been  sacrificed but the size of low resolution panorama is nomore than 2 Mb.

After we got accustomed to Rio, my friend Dima and myself decided to visit the Corcovado hill, one of the city's main attractions, with world-famous statue of Christ the Redeemer on the top.

We couldn't get there by car so we had to load all our equipment on the bus. The usual story followed after that: security at the entrance wouldn't let us on the premises unless we had a photo permit from the park's administration. An attempt to take off from the bus stop was also stopped by guards. There were no other places near the statue from which we could take off so that day we couldn't shoot anything.

After we found out the address of the park's administration we immediately rushed in that direction. But we had to look for this address for a long time because there was no exact location on the map. Finally, with a help from local residents, we found our way. It was a very beautiful place: high up in the mountains in the heart of the national park. Surprisingly, we couldn't get any cell service in the area; instead, we had a very good connection via free WiFi.

I'd rather skip the details of our conversation with the administration representatives. Basically, they had nothing against us taking pictures of the statue, but at the same time they couldn't allow the photo shoot without getting approval from the church first.  For some unknown reason, the church also couldn't give such approval on a short notice. So after a day of worthless struggle we returned to the hotel without any permits or documentations.

The next day Dima rented a large helicopter to take pictures of the Christ statue. In the evening, without any hope for a positive answer, we decided to call the park's administration. And a miracle happened! An employee in charge of our case was able to get a photo permit from the church representatives. We were allowed to take off from the base of the statue!

The next morning we got up before dawn. It was still dark when we drove up to the bus parking space. Guards at the gate had been warned to let us in on our own transportation.

But as we climbed higher up the hill the expression on our faces gradually changed from happy to gloomy: the top of the mountain was covered by thick fog. All the way from the parking lot to the observation desk we were surrounded with "milky fog". On the way up we met another group of people who were making a film about Rio. 

We spent all this time in agony while waiting to see if the fog would clear away. It would have been such a shame to fly halfway round the world, spend so much effort to get here at dawn and not to shoot anything because of heavy clouds. 

But we were lucky: during sunrise the wind blew from the ocean and gradually cleared the fog away from the hill, leaving behind fantastic colors.  Suddenly a huge heavy cloud floated above our heads became brightly coloured in orange. Dima shouted: "Urgent take off!" And we were on our way!

Each great city has its own landmark. Eiffel Tower in Paris, The Statue of Liberty in New York, Opera house in Vienna, and majestic Kremlin towers, famous Moscow landmark. But today we want to tell you about the statue of Christ the Redeemer (Cristo Redentor) in Rio de Janeiro.

On a 700-meter high Corcovado mountain stands a giant figure of Christ, his arms are stretched out towards the city, as if blessing the land. Each year, nearly 2 million tourists and residents climb to the top of the mountain to take a photo besides the monument "for good luck."

The exact dimensions of Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro are as follows: the height of the figure is 38 meters, the height of the pedestal - 8 meters, weight - 1145 tons, arm stretch - 30 meters. It is believed that the idea behind ??the creation of the statue came up in 1922, on the 100th anniversary of Brazil's independence. It appears that the story of the statue goes with its roots deep in the past.

Back in 1859 a Catholic priest Pedro Maria Boss was struck by the majestic beauty of the mountain of Corcovado while visiting Brazil. It was he who proposed to build a monument to Christ on top of the mountain. But at that time his aspirations were hard to accomplish: first the Brazilian Court had no money, and then the monarchy was replaced by the republican government. And since the church was legally separated from the state, the idea of building a monument was forgotten.

The mountain was too striking to be empty, and in the XXth century Catholic organizations of Rio de Janeiro raised the issue again. Signatures were collected, funds were raised and, as a result, this ambitious project was able to get more than 2 million reals ($250,000), a huge amount of money for that time.