From the top of Corcovado – at 710 metres – the statue of Christ the Redeemer towers high above Rio. With its arms wide open, the statue has guarded the city since 1931. This 38-metre-high statue is Rio de Janeiro’s landmark monument and draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.
In the 1850s, priest Pedro Maria Boss dreamed of building a statue on top of Corcovado. However, it was only in 1921 that the church managed to save enough money to begin the construction of the statue. It took 10 years but it was worth the wait. There are few statues in the world with such a magnificent view.
“Christ the Redeemer was built in France from blocks of clay and weighs 1145 tons”