Christ the Redeemer (guest photos)

A friend, Leslie Davis, who we've met here on the ship was able to go to the top to see the famous Christ the Redeemer statue while we were in Rio de Janeiro. With her permission, I am sharing a few of her photos that she posted on FaceBook. Thank you, Leslie!

I had mentioned in my earlier post that the statue is 98 feet tall but I didn't realize that the pedestal it rests on adds an additional 26 feet in height. You can get a clear look at its pedestal in one of her photos below. Like I said in my earlier post, the "post card" view of this statue must be made from a helicopter. Helicopter rides start at $178 for adults.

 

She was able to get this fantastic view of the city below from atop Mount Corcovado. The tall cone-shaped rock in the background is Sugarloaf.

 

I also found these 10 interesting facts about the Redeemer statue on the internet which I am copying below.

* Christ the Redeemer was built using reinforced concrete and has an outer shell of 6 million soapstone tiles. It’s believed that the workers who made these tiles occasionally wrote notes on the back, meaning this iconic landmark is full of hidden messages.

* Due to the statue’s mountaintop position, it’s prone to lightning strikes and gets hit around three to six times a year. Prior to the FIFA World Cup in 2014, lightning struck and broke one of the statue's thumbs.

* The original design of the statue was different from what we see today. It was intended for Christ to be holding a globe in one hand and a cross in the other, rather than two open arms,

* Christ the Redeemer was not actually built in Brazil. It was first made in France by French sculptor Paul Landowski who created the statue in clay pieces. These were then shipped to Brazil to be remade with reinforced concrete by Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa and French engineer Albert Caquot. 

* Construction of the statue took 9 years. Beginning in 1922, it was finally finished in 1931 at a cost of $250,000 US.

* The statue boasts an impressive title. In 2007 it was voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World alongside top sights such as the Great Wall of China, Machu Picchu and the Rose City of Petra in Jordan.

* It’s one of the largest statues of Jesus and the tallest art deco statue in the world. Christ the Redeemer reaches a height of 30 metres and boasts an arm span of 28 metres.

* Housing prices in Rio de Janeiro have increased simply if the property has a view of Christ the Redeemer. Apartments with even a slight view of the statue are higher than those with the same location and size but no view.

 * The light-colored stone used to build the statue was taken from a quarry near the city of Ouro Preto. However, this stone is in short supply and restoration works are having to be done using different types. As a result, stone in a darker shade is slowly replacing the original, meaning Christ the Redeemer is gradually getting darker.

* Each year, Christ the Redeemer is visited by nearly 2 million people. The record number of visitors to the statue in a single day was a huge 14,000 during Easter of 2011.