The statue of Christ the Redeemer

The Christ the Redeemer is the largest statue of the Art Deco style in the world, with
38 meters high and arms with an area of 88 square meters each.

The first time someone thought about building a giant religious monument in
Corcovado, in Rio de Janeiro was in 1859, when the French Lazarist father Pierre-
Marie Boss had that idea. He came to record his desire in a book, called "Imitation
of Christ", published in 1903.

The desire of the priest only began to come true in the preparations for the centenary
of the Independence, celebrated in 1922. A dispute to decide the project for the
monument was opened, being Heitor da Silva Costa the winner. The idea was that
the Christ the Redeemer was built only with the donation money of the Brazilians.
Several collection campaigns were carried out, including a request to obtain the
authorization of President Epitácio Pessoa for the monument to be built.
The project was a work of the designer Heitor da Silva Costa, the painter Carlos
Oswald and the sculptor Maximilian Paul Landowski. The Christ the Redeemer is an
Art Deco style sculpture, with open arms in the shape of a cross, 38 meters high, the
equivalent of a 13-story building. Of that total, 30 meters are equivalent to the
monument and the other eight meters are equivalent to the pedestal. Each arm
occupies an area of 88 square meters and the foot measures 1.35 meters. The total
weight of the statue is approximately 1145 tons, of which 30 tons correspond only to
the head.
The only parts of the Christ the Redeemer that were not built in Brazil are the hands
and the head, which were molded in Paris. The body of the statue was made entirely
of soapstone, cut into triangles, hand glued on a fabric and applied by a pillbox in
the structure made of reinforced concrete.
The Seven Wonders of the Modern World were chosen through an informal vote,
devised by a Swiss organization, based on criteria such as beauty, complexity,
historical value, cultural relevance and architectural significance. The selection was
made worldwide by votes online and by phone.
The announcement of the chosen monuments took place on July 7, 2007, at the
Estadio de la Luz, in Portugal.