[custom_adv] Towering 2,310 feet above the city of Rio, the Christ the Redeemer statue has fascinated experts and historians for nearly a hundred years. It’s the fourth largest statue of Jesus Christ in the world, the largest Art Deco-style sculpture on the planet, and to top it all off, in 2007 the statue was deemed as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World along with Machu Picchu, the Great Wall of China and the Roman Colosseum. [custom_adv] Perched on the summit of Mount Corcovado in Rio, the statue stands at a whopping 98 feet (or 30 metres) tall (making it two-thirds the height of New York’s Statue of Liberty), and its outstretched arms reach to 92 feet (or 28 metres) horizontally. [custom_adv] Not only is the statue the most recognizable landmark of Rio, it’s become a cultural icon of Brazil as well. But most importantly, however, the statue has become a global symbol of Christianity that attracts millions of believers and non-believers to the top of Mount Corcovado every year. [custom_adv] The idea of designing a massive statue of Jesus Christ in Rio first came about way back in the 1850s, when a local priest came up with the idea of placing a Christian monument on top of Mount Corcovado. [custom_adv] Apparently he had requested Princess Isabel (the daughter of Emperor Pedro II and Princess Regent of Brazil at the time), to fund the project, but the idea was scrapped after a Declaration of the Republic was declared in Brazil in 1889 – a pinnacle move as it separated the church from the state in the country.
