The idea of a religious monument atop Corcovado is credited to the French Lazarist priest Pierre-Marie Boss, who was inspired by the view of the mountain from Botafogo. The project gained momentum in the run-up to the centenary of Brazil’s independence: the Catholic Circle chose Corcovado over Sugarloaf Mountain and Santo Antônio Hill, and in 1922 more than 20,000 women, led by the writer Laurita Lacerda, delivered a petition to President Epitácio Pessoa, who authorized the work and granted the summit to the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro. The cornerstone was laid that same year.
The chosen design was by the engineer Heitor da Silva Costa. Its first version, a Christ holding a cross and a globe, drew criticism, and Dom Sebastião Leme asked for an image with greater religious meaning, visible from great distances. The result was the figure with arms outstretched in the shape of a cross, sketched with the painter Carlos Oswald. In 1924, in Paris, Silva Costa commissioned the sculptor Paul Landowski to create the scale model and the full-size head and hands, with the collaboration of the engineer Albert Caquot, a specialist in reinforced concrete; the face was created by the Romanian artist Gheorghe Leonida.
Construction, from 1926 to 1931, was funded by donations from the Brazilian people, raised through a campaign launched in 1923. The reinforced-concrete structure was covered with a mosaic of thousands of soapstone triangles from Carandaí, in Minas Gerais, glued by hand onto strips of fabric by women volunteers—many of whom wrote the names of family members on the back. The Corcovado Railway, opened by Emperor Pedro II in 1884 and electrified in 1910, carried the pieces. The monument was inaugurated on October 12, 1931, the feast day of Our Lady of Aparecida.
Since then, the monument has welcomed visitors such as Pope John Paul II, in 1980, and gained improved access, including panoramic elevators and escalators. In 2006, on its 75th anniversary, it was designated an archdiocesan sanctuary; on July 7, 2007, following a public vote, it was announced in Lisbon as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World; and in 2012, Corcovado became part of the Carioca landscape inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
Christ the Redeemer is also a place of faith, which the Sanctuary presents as the world’s first open-air sanctuary. Each morning, between 7:30 and 8 am, a priest leads the Opening Rite with a blessing for visitors, and Mass is celebrated daily in the Chapel of Our Lady of Aparecida or on the esplanade in front of the monument, depending on the weather. Baptisms, weddings, and pilgrimages are scheduled through the Sanctuary office.
On the statue’s chest, a discreet 1.30 m heart—the only soapstone-clad part that projects inward—represents the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to which Brazil was consecrated on the day of the inauguration. Throughout the year, the monument receives special lighting tied to campaigns and events, and UNESCO highlights the worldwide renown of images of Rio that bring together the bay, Sugarloaf Mountain, and Christ the Redeemer.
The surroundings hold another remarkable story. In 1861, Emperor Pedro II designated the Tijuca and Paineiras forests as protection forests and began their reforestation, led by Major Manuel Gomes Archer with the labor of 11 enslaved Black people—Maria, Eleutério, Constantino, Manoel, Mateus, Leopoldo, Sabino, Macário, Clemente, Antônio, and Francisco. Over 13 years, more than 100,000 trees were planted. The area became a national park in 1961 and is now home to an extensive replanted urban forest.
