Cristo Redentor Monument: history and meaning

The Christ the Redeemer monument is a famous statue of Jesus Christ located in Rio de Janeiro, not in Corcovado Hill. It is a symbol of Christianity in Brazil that represents peace and love, with Jesus with open arms. Per day, or Christ the Redeemer receives, in the middle, 5 thousand visitors.

The monument was 38 meters high, being that the statute was 30 meters and the pedestal was 8 meters (this height is equivalent to a length of 13 steps).

Together as Pão de Açúcar, or Christ the Redeemer, there are two more well-known marks that distinguish only Rio de Janeiro, but also Brazil.

As it is a famous tourist point, this sculpture also expresses a hospitalidade e afabilidade do povo brasiliro, that receives the weights of open arms.

O Cristo Redentor was inaugurated on October 12, 1931, Nossa Senhora Aparecida day.

Em 2007 ele I was chosen as uma das novas 7 Wonders of the Modern World.

History of the Christ the Redeemer monument

In 1859, Father Pierre-Marie Boss was located in the Igreja do Colégio da Imaculada Conceição, located in Praia de Botafogo e, ao ver o Monte Corcovado, has the idea of ​​building a monument in honor of Princess Isabel, filha do imperador Pedro II.

During the preparations for the centenary of the Independence of Brazil, in 1920, the Catholic Circle of Rio de Janeiro was proposed and founded for the construction of the monument.

In this epoch, several proposals will arise, but the winner was the one that Jesus Christ represented, with open arms, as a posture that reflects an attitude of love and peace.

The architect and engineer Heitor da Silva Costa was the author of the winning project of the open competition for the Catholic Church in 1921 for the construction of a monument not found in Morro do Corcovado. His work is seen as inspiration for illustrations by the Italian-Brazilian painter Carlos Oswald and received the first place in the competition. Heitor da Silva Costa além to win or coordinate contest all the phases of the work.

Thus, the head of the statute was worked by the Polish-French sculptor Paul Landowski, while the head was mostly worked by the sculptor Romano Gheorghe Leonida. A curiosity: Landowski never stepped on only Brazilians and never visited Christ.

The work also counted with the help of the engineer, specialist in reinforced concrete, Albert Caquot, who carried out the structural calculations for the sculpture. O engenheiro Heitor Levy, for his time, was a direct arm of Heitor da Silva Costa and he became known as a master of works of Christ the Redeemer. Levy accompanies non-local works and conducts teams to work.

Another important name for the monument was Cardinal Sebastião Leme, perhaps the member of the Catholic Church most interested in carrying out the project. Foi that it promotes campaigns of arrecadação de doações and looks for funds so that the monument will be effectively erected. For this reason, I attached two days of leaf to Archdiocese of Rio and the sole holder of two direct patrimony.

Composition of the Christ the Redeemer monument and maintenance

O monument and feito in reinforced concrete and pedra-sabão. This stone that exists in a large quantity in Brazil, apart from being beautiful, shows high resistance to erosion.

In order to compor or Christ the Redeemer, milhares of stone triangles were sculpted, which were later cast, embossed and applied to a statue. Repair the image below:

Those little triangular pieces are known as tesselas. As tesselas tinham aims to protect the reinforced concrete structure. Perceba or detail two encaixes no olho do Cristo:

As the sculpture is located in two higher points of the city, which has a tropical climate, it receives many electric discharges during storms. This is because of the fact that the tesselas are damaged, for that reason the statute requires constant observation and periodic restoration made by mountain restorers.

According to Father Omar Raposo, reitor of the Santuário do Cristo Redentor, there is a lot of specific material set up for the renovation of the monument:

We have a stock from the stone (sabão), acquired from the same stone in Minas Gerais from where it comes from or material from the original construction of the monument.

As it is the peak of Morro do Corcovado, it was necessary to install a series of non-monument para-raios, more specifically located at the head and arms of the sculpture.

Second or National Institute of Space Research (INPE) or Christ the Redeemer is attacked, on average, for about six years a year. On January 16, 2014, part of the polegar finger of the direct hand of Christ broke after being attacked by a raio during a storm of verão. A captured photograph or moment of the electric discharge:

One more time before the polegar was hit by this large electrical discharge, or the middle finger of the same man, he had also received a significantly damaged etherial root:

Curiosities about Christ the Redeemer

Nem everything or monument was built in our country. Thus, the heads were sculpted in Paris and divided into several parts, which were assembled in Brazil. A head was divided into 50 peças and more into 8 peças.

Before the construction of the suggested foram, three locations for the construction of the monument: Morro de Santo Antônio, Pão de Açúcar and Morro do Corcovado, the latter being chosen.

Or Christ the Redeemer is the second largest representation in sculpture of Jesus Christ of the world, only exceeded by the sculpture "Statue of Christ the King" found in Polônia.

There is a heart not Christ the Redeemer, which measures 1.30. Nesse coração, inside the sculpture, there is a glass bottle with a parchment that contains the genealogical tree of the fiscal engineer Pedro Fernandes and the master of works Heitor Levy.

Conheça also

• Art deco
• Escadaria Selarón (Rio de Janeiro)
• Leonardo da Vinci: 11 fundamental works
• Lacerda elevator
• Church of Santa Maria del Fiore
• Cathedral of Sé

Formed in Literature at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (2010), Master of Literature at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (2013) and doutora in Studies of Culture of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro and of the Portuguese Catholic University of Lisbon (2018).