Christ the Redeemer

Lore & Background

The idea for a Christian monument on Mount Corcovado was first suggested by Vincentian priest Pedro Maria Boss in the mid-1850s to honor Princess Isabel, but the project was not approved. Donations came mostly from Brazilian Catholics. Designs considered included a cross, a statue of Jesus with a globe, and a pedestal symbolizing the world; the open-armed statue of Christ the Redeemer, a symbol of peace, was chosen. Local engineer Heitor da Silva Costa and artist Carlos Oswald designed the statue. A group of engineers and technicians decided reinforced concrete (designed by Albert Caquot) was more suitable than steel. The concrete base was supplied from Limhamn, Sweden, and the outer layers are soapstone.

Reader's Guide

Christ the Redeemer, the largest Art Deco sculpture in the world, was constructed between 1922 and 1931 through a collaboration between French-Polish sculptor Paul Landowski, Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa, French engineer Albert Caquot, and Romanian sculptor Gheorghe Leonida, who sculpted the face. The statue stands 30 meters high on an 8-meter pedestal atop Corcovado mountain in Rio de Janeiro’s Tijuca National Park, with arms stretching 28 meters wide. It weighs 635 metric tons and is made of reinforced concrete clad in soapstone, chosen for durability. The design evolved from an initial concept of Christ holding a globe and cross to the current open-armed pose, symbolizing peace. The project was driven by the Catholic Circle of Rio in response to perceived societal godlessness, funded largely by Brazilian Catholics. The statue faces east and has become a global Christian symbol and cultural icon of Brazil, voted one of the New 7 Wonders of the World. It requires periodic maintenance: lightning strikes in 2008 and 2014 damaged fingers and head, prompting restoration of soapstone and lightning rods. A 2010 restoration cleaned fungi, repaired cracks, and waterproofed the structure. In 2006, a chapel dedicated to Brazil’s patron saint was consecrated beneath the statue. The monument’s significance extends to popular culture, as seen in a 1998 Pirelli commercial featuring footballer Ronaldo mimicking the statue’s pose, which sparked controversy with the Catholic Church.

Did You Know?

• The statue differs considerably from its original design, which was a large Christ with a globe in one hand and a cross in the other.
• The face was sculpted by Romanian sculptor Gheorghe Leonida.
• A chapel named after Brazil's patron saint—Our Lady of the Apparition—was consecrated under the statue in October 2006.

The Brazilian Mobilization

The campaign to secure a place for Christ the Redeemer among the New 7 Wonders became one of the most visible public mobilization efforts in modern Brazilian history. Under the banner 'Vote no Cristo,' private corporations threw their weight behind the statue. Telecommunications operators waived charges so citizens could place voting calls and send SMS messages at no cost, while major sponsors including Banco Bradesco and Rede Globo poured millions of reais into promotional spending. The saturation was extraordinary: residents of Rio de Janeiro received beeping text prompts urging them to press a specific code, the same message flashed every time commuters swiped transit cards on city buses, and television infomercials featured reality-show personalities standing beside the city's iconic statue. By early July 2007, an estimated ten million Brazilians had cast their ballots—a figure that remains approximate because the organizing foundation never published official turnout numbers for the campaign.

The Architecture of the Poll

Launched in 2001 under the direction of Canadian-Swiss organizer Bernard Weber, the New 7 Wonders initiative was structured as a global popularity contest open to anyone with internet access or a telephone. The New 7 Wonders Foundation, headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, invited the public to participate through free web-based ballots and telephone voting lines. The candidate pool began with two hundred existing monuments worldwide, was trimmed to seventy-seven, and then further narrowed by a selection panel in 2006 to twenty-one finalists before the final seven were determined. The results were unveiled on 7 July 2007 at Estádio da Luz in Lisbon, Portugal, in a widely watched public announcement. Despite the enormous scale, the methodology drew sustained criticism; because individual participants were permitted to cast multiple votes, the exercise was widely regarded as unscientific. Nevertheless, John Zogby, founder and chief executive of the American polling firm Zogby International, characterized the effort as the largest poll ever conducted in history.

Institutional Reactions and UNESCO's Distance

Governments around the world reacted to the New 7 Wonders campaign with a spectrum of enthusiasm and skepticism. Some nations launched aggressive lobbying efforts to boost their national monument's tally, while others dismissed the contest outright. The most pointed institutional criticism came from UNESCO, the United Nations body responsible for designating World Heritage Sites. Although UNESCO had initially offered guidance on nominee selection when the campaign launched in 2001, it formally distanced itself from the project both at that time and again in 2007. In a June 20, 2007 press release, UNESCO emphasized that it had no connection to the initiative and argued that the resulting list was merely a private undertaking reflecting the opinions of internet users rather than the broader global population. The organization stressed that its own World Heritage designation process, grounded in scientific and educational criteria, could not be equated with a media-driven popularity vote, and questioned whether such a campaign could meaningfully contribute to the long-term preservation of the sites it selected.

Financial Model and Subsequent Programs

Behind the spectacle of the New 7 Wonders campaign lay a modest financial reality. The foundation, established in 2001, operated without any public funding, relying instead on private donations and the sale of broadcast rights. Although the organization describes itself as not-for-profit, the commercial entity behind it, the New Open World Corporation (NOWC), is a for-profit business to which all licensing and sponsorship revenue flows. After the final winners were announced in 2007, the foundation publicly acknowledged that it had earned nothing from the entire exercise and had barely recouped its initial investment. The campaign's legacy extended beyond the original monument vote. These follow-up initiatives carried forward the same format of public polling to identify and celebrate natural landmarks and urban centers, though none matched the original campaign's global media saturation.

Common Misconceptions (Editorial)

- Some people assume the statue was always designed as it appears today, but the original proposed design featured Christ holding a globe in one hand and a cross in the other. - Another common misconception is that the statue is made entirely of steel; in fact, it is constructed of reinforced concrete with an outer layer of soapstone.

Why It Matters (Editorial)

Christ the Redeemer endures not only as an architectural marvel but as a universal symbol of peace and welcome, its open arms mirroring the embrace the statue represents. Its status as one of the New 7 Wonders of the World reflects a collective human desire for landmarks that transcend religious boundaries to inspire awe and unity across cultures.

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