Christ The Redeemer Facts

Christ The Redeemer Facts for Kids

• The first thing you need to know is that it’s a statue of Jesus Christ, located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, at the top of Mount Corcovado.
• It was created by French sculptor Paul Landowski and built by Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa, in collaboration with French engineer Albert Caquot. The statue is in the Art Deco style. Art Deco, also called style moderne, was a movement in art and architecture that began in the 1920s and became popular in western Europe and the United States during the 1930s.
• It is listed as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, as voted by more than 100 million people in 2007. It’s also a symbol of Christianity across the planet.
• The statue is made of reinforced concrete and soapstone. Soapstone is a type of metamorphic rock, which means it was changed from one type of rock into another when put under extreme pressure or heat.
• The initial sketch was of Christ carrying a large cross in one hand and a globe in the other. It quickly gained the playful name “Christ with a ball.” After surveying Mount Corcovado from various points throughout the city, the design was changed to the Art Deco, arms-wide-open Christ we see today.
• It took nine years to build the statue, beginning in 1922 and finishing in 1931.
• The statue has been hit by lightning numerous times. Just before the World Cup in 2014, a lightning strike damaged the back of the head and tip of a finger, which had to be repaired quickly before the games began.
• There is a chapel at the base of the statue, so it is possible for couples to get married there. The chapel is named after Brazil’s patron saint, Our Lady of the Apparition.
• In 2015, two explorers, Vadim Makhorov and Vitaly Raskalov, climbed the statue and took video footage and photos.
• Visitors to Christ The Redeemer used to have to climb 200 steps to reach it. Today, there are escalators and elevators to make the journey easier. Phew!