Beautiful view of Rio de Janeiro and the Christ the Redeemer Beautiful view of Rio de Janeiro and the Christ the Redeemer / source

As the main landmark of Rio de Janeiro, Corcovado has an endless number of stories and anecdotes that surround it. Of course most of them are not included in the traditional Rio travel guides, so here we have prepared a list of 10 things that you didn't know about Christ the Redeemer.

Hope you enjoy it!

1) The hill where the Christ the Redeemer is located was called Temptation Peak by the Portuguese who arrived at Rio in 1500s. The name was a reference to a place mentioned in the Bible. At the 17th century, the name changed to Corcovado because of its resemblance to a hunchback (“concova” or “corcunda” in Portuguese), as you can see in the picture below:

Corcovado hill before Christ the Redeemer was built seen from Jardim Botânico neighborhood Corcovado hill before Christ the Redeemer was built seen from Jardim Botânico neighborhood / source

2) The railroad that leads to the statue of Christ is almost 4 km long and was built in 1884, nearly 50 years before the construction of the statue. In the picture above, you can see the tramway at the last stop of the circuit, just below the observatory. This belvedere was removed when the Christ was built. Up until this day the same rail tracks are in use, but the trains are really modern and safe. They go all the way through Floresta da Tijuca, the biggest urban rainforest in the world.

Corcovado belvedere where now is Christ the Redeemer Corcovado belvedere where Christ the Redeemer now is / source

3) There was a national fund raising campaign for the construction of Christ the Redeemer lead by the Catholic Church. Some people remember seeing volunteers walking with open sheets in Rio’s streets, catching the coins that the neighbours would throw from their windows. João Havelange, today´s FIFA’s honorary President, also helped the campaign as a child. He was part of a scout group that joined the movement.

4) In 1923, the engineer Heitor da Silva Costa won a contest of design projects and became the person in charge of the construction of the monument. In the original design, Christ the Redeemer held a cross and a globe in his hands. The moulds of both the head and the hand of the Christ in plaster came directly from France, where the sculptor Paul Landowski lived. Because of that, for a long time some people believed the monument was a gift from French government. Until today there is a judicial dispute between Silva Costa and Landowski families to decide who the actual creator of Christ the Redeemer is. A pianist that used to be one of Landowski’s students openly proclaimed that her hands were used as a mould for the hands of the statue. When she was about to die, she confessed it was a lie.

Christ the Redeemer's head and hand Christ the Redeemer's head and hand / source

5) One of the engineers responsible for the construction was Heitor Levy. He was a Jew but became obsessed with building the statue of Christ and even inverted his farm in Rio to become part of the construction site. At the time, it was very common to calculate the number of workers that could die throughout the construction process, but amazingly as Christ the Redeemer was built no one was even harmed. Levy thought it was a miracle considering the magnitude of the structure and converted to Christianity. Some people say he even put the name of all his family in a glass bottle inside the statue’s heart.

6) The monument was actually green but lost its color with time. Also, the crown at the top of Christ the Redeemer head is actually a lightning conductor. The statue already lost an eyebrow, a lip and a finger because of strikes of lightning.

/ source The statue has been dramatically hit by lightning a number of times / source

7) On April 16th 2010, the Statue of Christ was vandalized with graffiti for the first time. The monument was being reformed and was closed to the public, but the vandals managed to climb the scaffolding and enter the site to mark the statue with a protest phrase referring to a crime that had happened a couple of months before.

Scaffolding around Christ the Redeemer Scaffolding surrounding the head of the statue / source

8) Christ the Redeemer has appeared in many movies around the world, but no depiction generated as much polemic as “2012”. The promotional material of the movie showed the monument being destroyed by the sea. The representatives of the Catholic Church responsible for the statue got really angry about it and notified Columbia Pictures judicially. The company had to apologize and take the scene down.

9) It is possible to go inside the Christ the Redeemer and climb up to its head and arms, but this part of the monument is only used for maintenance and is closed to the public. However, some Brazilian artists and journalist managed to gain access.

10) Almost every person who lives in Rio wants to be able to have a view of Christ the Redeemer from their window. Prices of apartments with views of the monument are slightly higher than other apartment, in the same location and same size. (even if you see just a corner of it).

Looking up at the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio Visiting the majestic Christ the Redeemer Statue is a must / source

Extra Tip from Rdj4u team:
The monument can get really crowded when there is a holiday in Brazil (as you can see in the picture above). On days like these, it takes a lot of time and patience to get up there, especially if you arrive late. So there are always some people offering to take you up with a van service for a few dollars, but think twice before accepting. Since they’ll take you up there, but it will be very hard to get back down as there often aren’t enough vans. Tourists usually end up paying more for a taxi at the end, so beware if it is a national holiday and make sure that you arrive early to go up with the tramway or book a Christ the Redeemer Tour if you have a tight schedule and prefer the comfort of a professional service with pick up from your hotel.

Visit our website for more interesting information about Rio de Janeiro and to book tours and activities in Rio!