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Christ the Redeemer

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Christ the Redeemer - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Christ the Redeemer , colossal statue of Jesus Christ at the summit of Mount Corcovado , Rio de Janeiro , southeastern Brazil . Celebrated in traditional and popular songs, Corcovado towers over Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s principal port city. The statue of Christ the Redeemer was completed in 1931 and stands 98 feet (30 metres) tall, its horizontally outstretched arms spanning 92 feet (28 metres). The statue has become emblematic of both the city of Rio de Janeiro and the whole nation of Brazil.

The statue, made of reinforced concrete clad in a mosaic of thousands of triangular soapstone tiles, sits on a square stone pedestal base about 26 feet (8 metres) high, which itself is situated on a deck atop the mountain’s summit . The statue is the largest Art Deco -style sculpture in the world.

Taj Mahal, Agra, India. UNESCO World Heritage Site (minarets; Muslim, architecture; Islamic architecture; marble; mausoleum)

In the 1850s the Vincentian priest Pedro Maria Boss suggested placing a Christian monument on Mount Corcovado to honour Isabel, princess regent of Brazil and the daughter of Emperor Pedro II , although the project was never approved. In 1921 the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro proposed that a statue of Christ be built on the 2,310-foot (704-metre) summit, which, because of its commanding height, would make it visible from anywhere in Rio. Citizens petitioned Pres. Epitácio Pessoa to allow the construction of the statue on Mount Corcovado.

Permission was granted, and the foundation stone of the base was ceremonially laid on April 4, 1922—to commemorate the centennial on that day of Brazil’s independence from Portugal—although the monument’s final design had not yet been chosen. That same year a competition was held to find a designer, and the Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa was chosen on the basis of his sketches of a figure of Christ holding a cross in his right hand and the world in his left. In collaboration with Brazilian artist Carlos Oswald, Silva Costa later amended the plan; Oswald has been credited with the idea for the figure’s standing pose with arms spread wide. The French sculptor Paul Landowski, who collaborated with Silva Costa on the final design, has been credited as the primary designer of the figure’s head and hands. Funds were raised privately, principally by the church. Under Silva Costa’s supervision, construction began in 1926 and continued for five years. During that time materials and workers were transported to the summit via railway.

After its completion, the statue was dedicated on October 12, 1931. Over the years it has undergone periodic repairs and renovations, including a thorough cleaning in 1980, in preparation for the visit of Pope John Paul II to Brazil that year, and a major project in 2010, when the surface was repaired and refurbished. Escalators and panoramic elevators were added beginning in 2002; previously, in order to reach the statue itself, tourists climbed more than 200 steps as the last stage of the trip. In 2006, to mark the statue’s 75th anniversary, a chapel at its base was consecrated to Our Lady of Aparecida, the patron saint of Brazil.

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Christ the Redeemer

Kyle Hoekstra

09 sep 2021, @kylehoekstra.

About Christ the Redeemer

Christ the Redeemer is an Art Deco statue of Jesus Christ overlooking the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro.

History of Christ the Redeemer

Christ the Redeemer ( Cristo Redentor ) is a 30 metre high statue, mounted upon an 8 metre pedestal, and of course the 700 metre high mountain of Corcovado. It was constructed between 1922 and 1931 from soapstone and reinforced concrete. Today it is a Brazilian cultural icon and global symbol of Christianity.

An earlier proposal for a Christian monument on Mount Corcovada was dismissed after the country became a republic in 1889, when the roles of church and state were separated. However a second proposal came in 1920 from Catholics motivated by the perceived atheism of contemporary Rio de Janeiro.

The proposal attracted donations to support the construction, which came largely from Brazilian Catholics. Designs included a representation of the Christian cross, a statue of Jesus holding a globe in his hands and a pedestal that symbolised the world. The resultant Christ the Redeemer statue symbolises peace.

Christ the Redeemer was created by French sculptor Paul Landwoski and Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa, working with French engineer Albert Caquot. It weighs 635 metric tons. The face of the Christ the Redeemer statue was created by Gheorghe Leonida, a Romanian sculptor living in Paris hired by Landowski.

On the 75th anniversary of the statue’s construction, in October 2006, the Archbishop of Rio consecrated a chapel beneath the statue. The statue was hit by lightning in 2008 and in 2014, causing damage, while it has also been the focus of recent renovation efforts.

Christ the Redeemer today

The monument is a cultural icon in Brazil and around the world. It’s a popular tourist destination so crowds are often large. On a clear day, the viewpoint atop Corcovado provides an excellent view of Rio.

Getting to Christ the Redeemer

The statue is open most of the day. A choice of train and tour buses make the journey to and from Christ the Redeemer simple, while the entrance ticket is inexpensive.

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World History Edu

Christ the Redeemer

Christ the Redeemer – History, Meaning, Height, Construction & Other Notable Facts

by World History Edu · October 24, 2022

Towering over the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro with its outstretched arms of 92 feet across is Christ the Redeemer state. The magnificent structure, which sits atop the peak of the 2,300-foot Mount Corcovado, has become one of Brazil’s most popular monuments and cultural symbols.

The Art Deco statue was designed Heitor da Silva Costa and Carlos Oswald – Brazilian engineer and artist, respectively.

In 2007, Christ the Redeemer was voted on and recognized as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World . The magnificent edifice is regarded as the fourth biggest statue of Jesus Christ worldwide, as of 2022.

Below, World History Edu explores the major characteristics, location and significance of the Christ the Redeemer statue.

The story behind Christ the Redeemer

Christ the Redeemer statue is located in the Tijuca National Park in Rio de Janeiro

By the 15th century, the Portuguese were in charge of the Brazilian territory. During that period, the Portuguese named a mountain close to the Atlantic Ocean the “pinnacle of temptation.” It wasn’t until a century later that it was renamed Corcovado. In those times, the mountain had been surrounded by dense thickets and was so steep that it was impossible to climb it. However, that changed in 1824, when a path was created to facilitate easy movement to reach its peak.

It took many years before the idea to have a religious monument placed at the summit of Mount Corcovado came into being. A Vincentian priest, Father Pedro Maria Boss visited the site in 1859 and was fascinated with the landscape. Father Pedro then appealed to Princess Isabella of the Empire of Brazil to financially support the construction of a monument. However, by 1889, Brazil had become a republic, which meant the separation of state and church affairs. As a result, the idea for a religious monument was abandoned.

Nonetheless, the Corcovado still attracted many people to its site, especially since it was now possible to climb. In 1884, a railway line was built from the Cosme Velho station to the summit of the mountain. The line was inaugurated by Emperor Peter II of Brazil. The development of the railway line helped boost Brazil’s tourism sector, especially at a time when the country relied heavily on industrialization and agriculture to support its economy.

Why was Christ the Redeemer statue constructed?

Christ the Redeemer is located on top of Mount Corcovado. Construction took place from 1922 to 1931.

In 1922, Brazil was preparing to celebrate its 100 th anniversary. During the period, it was common for countries to celebrate their independence anniversaries with monuments or statues. For example, the Eiffel Tower was constructed in celebration of France’s centenary. So, it wasn’t out of place for Brazil to want a monument that celebrated its 100 years of independence.

Two years prior, the Catholic Circle of Rio had proposed for the construction of a statue, which would be placed on the peak of Mount Corcovado. The group believed that the statue would help address the issue of godlessness and immorality in Brazilian society. They organized “Monument Week” to seek funding and support for the construction of the statue, with most of the financial support coming from Brazilian Catholics.

After receiving permission from the state, the group laid the foundation on Brazil’s Independence Day in 1922 despite not having the final design ready. Later in the year, the Brazilian engineer, da Silva Costa was selected to build the statue.

Construction of the Christ the Redeemer statue

The initial design was depiction of Jesus Christ holding a cross in his right hand and the world in the other. Construction started in 1926 and during that period, materials and workers were transported to the top of Corcovado via the railway. However, construction briefly halted in 1928 when people criticized the shape of the statue and nicknamed the ongoing project “Christ with the balloon”.

The statue was designed by French sculptor Paul Landowski and built by Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa. Further support came from French engineer Albert Caquot and Romanian sculptor Sculptor Gheorghe Leonida. The latter is credited with creating the face of the statue. Image (L-R): Heitor da Silva Costa and Paul Landowski

As a result, da Silva Costa had to revisit his designs with the help of Brazilian artist Carlos Oswald. Oswald recommended the idea of the Christ’s statue standing with outstretched arms as a symbol of humanity’s redemption. However, their new concept was met with a few challenges. Because he wanted to figure to be visible from as far back as Rio’s city center, da Silva Costa needed strong materials that would support the monument’s arms.

The famous statues, which overlooks the Brazilian city of Rio, weighs at over 630 metric tons. The outer layers were made out of soapstone, a type of metamorphic rock.

Together with Oswald, the da Silva Costa traveled to Europe to purchase those materials. While there, he tasked a French sculptor named Paul Lewandowski to oversee the overall construction of the monument and also hired a Romanian sculptor, Gheorghe Leonida to work on the figure’s face.

But despite forming a solid team of construction specialists, da Silva Costa needed the monument to be as magnificent as possible. So, he hired French engineer, Albert Caquot to handle the statue’s architecture. Lewandowski revised the drawings, and the construction of the religious monument was back on track.

By 1931, the Christ the Redeemer statue was up and looked over the lands. All in all, it cost, at the time, about a quarter of a million USD to complete the statue. In today’s US Dollar equivalent, that figure is around $ 4 million. Christ the Redeemer was inaugurated on 12th October 1931.

Renovations and Restoration

The first renovation exercise on Christ the Redeemer took place one year after its inauguration when its lighting system needed to be changed. In 1980, the statue underwent renovations again after the Catholic pope, John Paul II visited.

Another restoration project took place in 1990 when the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro, along with other companies and organizations like Shell, the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage, IBAMA, and the Brazilian government signed an agreement.

It is the tallest Art Deco statue in the world. Christ the Redeemer stands at about 124 feet (30 meters) tall, including its 26-feet pedestal. The statue’s outstretched arms span across 92 feet.

In 2003, engineers fitted escalators, elevators, and walkways to make the monument more easily accessible. Seven years later, in 2010, another renovation project focused on the statue’s appearance by removing fungi growth and sealing cracks. Engineers also replaced the lightning rods on the statue’s head and arms with new fixtures. This particular exercise was perhaps the most tedious so far, as it involved replacing over 55,000 tiles.

The Christ the Redeemer statue’s new look was unveiled during the 2010 FIFA World Cup tournament and was illuminated in Brazil’s national green and yellow colors in support of the country’s national football team. It cost $3.5 million for that project.

Other Interesting Facts about Christ the Redeemer

There are tons of interesting facts about this iconic monument. Some of the most notable ones are:

The monument was built with reinforced concrete, with an outer layer covered in over 5.5 million tiles. During its construction, it is widely believed that many of the workers wrote notes behind those tiles, so there might be several hidden messages and stories on the landmark.
The landmark is especially vulnerable to lightning strikes and is believed to get hit between three to six times every year. Before Brazil hosted the 2014 FIFA World Cup tournament, a lightning strike broke one of the monument’s thumbs.
It is the tallest Art Deco statue in the world. Christ the Redeemer stands at 98 feet and its outstretched arms span across 92 feet (30 meters). The pedestal measures about 26 feet (8 meters).
The site for the construction of the statue was between Corcovado and Santo Antonio. Mount Corcovado, which reaches about 710 meters (2,329 ft.), was selected over Santo Antonio because it was higher.
Because of this monument, property prices, especially those with clearer views of the statue, are more expensive than those without views.
Christ the Redeemer grows darker as time passes. That’s because the stone used to build the monument in 1931 was of a lighter shade. Now that it is in short supply, engineers use a darker-shade stone during its regular restoration projects.
Nearly 2 million people visit this impressive monument every year!

During the 2010 FIFA World Cup tournament held in South Africa, the statue was illuminated in Brazil’s national green and yellow colors in support of the country’s national football team.

While the call for a religious statue to be placed on Mount Corcovado’s summit didn’t really draw much negative attention from the people of Rio de Janeiro, it did receive backlash from other religious groups. Protestant religious groups kicked against the installation since it had been financed by the Catholic Church of Brazil. Nevertheless, the criticisms came to an end after the statue was inaugurated and became a universal symbol for various Christians in Brazil and the world.

Tags: Brazil Christ the Redeemer Mount Corcovado New Seven Wonders of the World Rio de Janeiro

Christ the Redeemer - One of the Seven Wonders of the World

The icon of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and one of the World's 7 Wonders , Christ the Redeemer towers the city from Mount Corcovado for the whole world to see. As one of the longest symbols of modern Christianity across the globe, the statue receives millions of visitors annually.

Coming at 635 tons, 98 feet long and 92 feet wide, overlooking the port city of Rio de Janeiro, Christ the Redeemer has been a cultural icon of the nation since inception. Having celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2006, this, largest Art Deco on Earth, also comes with a very intricate chapel at its foot, dedicated to Our Lady of Aparecida.

History Of Christ The Redeemer Statue

Christ the Redeemer Chapel in the Base of the Monument on Cordova Mountain

Back in 1950, when the Vincentian priest, Pedro Maria Boss suggested the idea to erect a Christian symbol for the city, but was rejected, the seed was planted in the minds of Christian Catholics in Brazil that would grow into a world-famed piece the following century. With Brazil , having established a republic in 1889, thus separating church from the state, there came an outcry from the nation’s Catholics that the world was heading towards doom, due to "godlessness". It all began following World War I, with the Roman Catholic archdiocese, or, simply, the catholic priest’s call, to install a religious symbol for the city.

Upon receiving permission, the stone base was laid on April 4, 1922 in a ceremony, also in commemoration of 100-year anniversary of Brazil’s independence from Portugal . With the design of prospected statue still undecided, a competition to find the designer was held the same year. Five people partook in realizing the look of the statue, including the French engineer, Albert Caquot, and the Romanian artist Gheorghe Leonida. Heitor da Silva Costa, a Brazilian engineer was chosen on the merit of his sketches, although his original idea was of Christ with a cross and a miniature world sphere in his hands.

Upon catching the name "Christ with a ball", it was Carlos Oswald, a Brazilian artist, whose design of Christ's standing pose with arms spread wide in an Art Deco style, was implemented instead, but still working in collaboration with Costa. Partnering also with Paul Landowski, a Polish-French sculptor, Oswald was the final author behind the structure's head and hands. The funds to begin construction, which began in 1926, were raised primarily and privately by the church, with materials and workers getting transported via railway to the summit, while the whole work of the engineers took place between 1922 and 1931.

Construction Of Christ The Redeemer

Taking almost a decade to complete due to the thick vegetation cover on the mountain, as well as its gigantic prospected size, the whole project cost $250,000 US, with the statue finally being inaugurated in October 1931. Fashioned out of clay pieces by Landowski that were shipped to Brazil, it was then remade with reinforced concrete, thinking that it was best to use this sturdy material for the grand and wide-open arms stance of the sculpture, symbolizing the Christ's loving embrace of his people.

Even so, Costa was not satisfied, believing that concrete was too rough for the representation of Christ. Finding his inspiration in a Parisian fountain near the Champs Elysees, Da Silva Costa updated his design to be made of soapstone tiles that would suit best to face the sun, and the people, as the Christ's grand stance in front of the world. The soapstone arrived from eastern Brazil's quarry in Ouro Preto and the final sculpture is made with 6 million soapstone tiles.

Significance Of Christ The Redeemer

The main significance in Christ the Redeemer lies in its ability to represent various things to different people, or depending on how one looks at it. Having eliminated the need for the statue to carry a cross with Costa's design of the open-wide stance effectively incorporated the cross within the whole Christ's silhouette. The Brazilians see the welcoming gesture in the figure, while those of Catholic religion, add that it is a literate translation of Christ inviting people in for a hug, to sooth one's soul during hardship's, and, as an embrace upon meeting him after death. Some also believe that the money for the project came from individuals' in and around Brazil donations, as opposed to strictly from the church’s funds.

Scholars have also noted significance in the fact that the figure varies greatly from the God's son's depiction in all other spheres, being nailed to a cross with a bowed head, in defeat. Not the largest structure in the world, Cristo Redentor , in its native Portuguese, is the largest Art Deco structure on Earth, that, in 1969, Brazilian artist Gilberto Gil was inspired to write a song about, called "That Hug" ("Aquele Abraço"). Having been featured in various Hollywood films, many have also seen the sweeping shots of the iconic Christ the Redeemer figure mounting Corcovado, in the Olympics. The various meanings, the breathtaking view, the colorful history, and the uncertain future of the structure, keep up the fascination.

Weather Effects And Renovation

It is almost guaranteed that in the future the statue will look very differently from its original, with the wind and the rain having already had their toll on the structure's facade by wearing away the stone tiles. Moreover, being so tall makes the statue vulnerable to lightning, and despite numerous rods to deflect the strikes, it has incurred serious damage twice since the erection. The first happened during a thunderstorm in 2008, destroying the fingers, the head and the brows, while the second occurred right prior to the World Cup of 2014, singing the head and removing a fingertip.

For these reason, there has been frequent renovation to keep the monument in top shape. A thorough cleaning was done in 1980; while in 2003 over 100 people have helped give the statue a "facelift", needed for the effects of the nature, with the structure being in such an accessible, to those forces, location. With Costa, having originally chosen a lighter grey color of soapstone that was rare, and is no longer available, the restoration workers have to use different types of stones.

For this reason, the statue is getting darker over time. Furthermore, a major project of 2010 involved repairing and refurbishing the surface, while escalators and panoramic elevators were added in 2002-2003. For its 75th anniversary in 2006, a chapel was constructed at its base dedicated to the patron saint of Brazil. Unfortunately, defacing also took place in 2010, as it was being renovated. Having scaled the statue, some acrobatic graffiti artists marked the head, arms, and chest with writing.

Mount Corcovado

Nestled in the city's rainforest, the Tijuca Forest National Park, of south-eastern Brazil's Carioca Range and overlooking Brazil’s principal port city, Rio de Janeiro, mountain Corcovado is a sharp and rocky peak, meaning Hunchback, and named for its shape. Accessible by road and by cog railway, Christ the Redeemer, the emblematic landmark, sits on the deck of the narrow summit. The mountain itself is sung about in popular and traditional songs of the nation. Commanding in height, the statue is visible from everywhere, which was the main reason for placement, with the president Epitácio Pessoa, petitioned by the citizens, allowing the construction on top of it.

Visiting The Christ The Redeemer

While the first ever tourists to visit the sculpture were in 1931, during unveil, today, over 15,000 hike up or take the train to its base to say "hello" to the famous landmark every day. Many people opt for the Corcovado centenarian eco-friendly electric train ride through the forest to get to the base, following which, the statue is accessible by an elevator or an escalator, where priory, one would have to climb 200 steps to make it to the top. While couples can wed there under Christ the Redeemer at the Chapel, seemingly an ideal location for marriage, there's little space, as well as the ascent to reach the Nossa Senhora Aparecida needs to be conquered.

Although Christ the Redeemer is known by all, the history behind its origin and the fact that Brazilian Christianity is just one of the things the statue symbolizes, are often overshadowed by the grand stature.

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INTELLIGENT TRAVEL

The Icon: Rio’s “Cristo”

Functioning as Rio de Janeiro ‘s dashboard Jesus, the towering “ Cristo Redentor ” (Christ the Redeemer) gazes out upon a city celebrated more for the pleasures of its flesh than for the saintliness of its sculptures.

Commissioned in 1922, designed by Brazilian Heitor da Silva Costa, and sculpted by Frenchman Paul Landowski , the mammoth statue sits atop Brazil’s 2,300-foot Corcovado Mountain .

Redeemer became an instant icon in 1931 when a switch was flipped from Rome to bathe the sculpture in inaugural floodlights. Eighty-one years later, fending off vandals and lightning bolts, the soaring Cristo still welcomes all with open arms.

Here are a few fun facts about the instantly recognizable statue:

Redeemer rises from the tropical foliage of Tijuca National Park . Its wilderness is man-made, however. Clear-cut once, the area was replanted by hand in the 1860s. Today the park is the planet’s largest urban forest.
Planners considered having Jesus hold a globe but chose an image of Christ extending his hands as a symbol of peace.
The sculpture cost $250,000, donated by individuals from around Brazil.
Crafted during the height of the art deco movement, Redeemer is the largest sculpture of this style in the world.
Even at 130 feet, Redeemer isn’t the largest statue of Christ in the world. There are at least five taller, including “ Cristo de la Concordia ” in Cochabamba, Bolivia, and “ Christ the King ” in Swiebodzin, Poland.
In 2007 Redeemer was nominated to be one of the “ New Seven Wonders of the World .” With the help of millions of Brazilians voting by cell phone, it made the list, beating New York’s Statue of Liberty .
Redeemer has enjoyed cameos in several movies, including Bette Davis’s Now Voyager , Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious , and the vampire-themed Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn (Part 1) . However, Brazilians were offended by 2012 , a sci-fi extravaganza in which the sculpture was destroyed.
In 2006 the Catholic Church declared Redeemer a sanctuary, permitting couples to wed in the chapel at the base.
Gone are the days when you needed to walk up 220 steps from the summit of Corcovado to reach Redeemer’s base. In 2002, escalators and elevators were installed.
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The Story Behind Christ the Redeemer Statue

Discover the captivating story behind the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue. Uncover the true purpose behind its construction and be amazed by its grandeur!

Last Updated:

May 27, 2024, article summary.

The Christ the Redeemer Statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is an awe-inspiring and powerful symbol of faith, unity, and resilience.
Its construction was driven by a desire to reclaim the city for Christianity, to unite a nation, and to forge a national identity rooted in spirituality.
Standing 30 meters tall with open arms, it serves as a reminder of Brazilians’ spiritual affiliation and unwavering faith.
It is a symbol of hope, love, and acceptance, and a constant reminder of the presence of Jesus among the Brazilian people.
The construction of this iconic masterpiece has profoundly impacted the lives of millions.

Why was Christ the Redeemer Built?

Christ the Redeemer, one of the most iconic landmarks in the world, was built for several significant reasons.

Symbol of Brazilian Catholicism

Christ the Redeemer is an iconic symbol of Brazilian Catholicism, representing not only the religious beliefs but also the cultural identity of the country. As one of the most famous landmarks in Rio de Janeiro and Brazil, the statue significantly promotes the Catholic Church as an integral part of Brazilian life.

The historical connection between Christ the Redeemer and the Catholic community can be traced back to its construction. The statue was built between 1922 and 1931 by Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa and French-Polish sculptor Paul Landowski. It was intended to celebrate Brazil's centenary of independence and symbolize the country's religious faith.

Standing tall atop Mount Corcovado, Christ the Redeemer looks out over Rio de Janeiro, serving as a constant reminder of the Catholic values and traditions that have shaped the nation. Its immense size and impressive architecture make it a focal point for locals and tourists, attracting millions of visitors annually.

Christ the Redeemer has become a religious pilgrimage site, drawing devotees and believers worldwide. The statue's arms outstretched in a welcoming gesture symbolize the all-encompassing love of Jesus Christ and the Catholic belief in redemption and salvation.

Commemoration of 100th Anniversary of Brazil's Independence

Christ the Redeemer holds immense significance in commemorating the 100th anniversary of Brazil's independence. This iconic statue, built between 1922 and 1931 by Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa and French-Polish sculptor Paul Landowski, was designed to mark this historic milestone in Brazilian history.

Erected atop Mount Corcovado, Christ the Redeemer stands tall as a symbol of Brazil's religious faith and national pride. The construction of this monumental statue represented the unity and strength of the Brazilian people, celebrating their independence and cultural heritage.

In addition to its religious significance, Christ the Redeemer served as a beacon of hope and inspiration for the Brazilian population. It became a powerful representation of unity and resilience, reminding the nation of shared values and common history.

The statue's imposing presence and its arms outstretched in a welcoming embrace have come to represent the love and compassion of Jesus Christ. It has become a pilgrimage site for believers and a cultural icon for visitors worldwide.

The construction of Christ the Redeemer was a remarkable feat that showcased the nation's engineering prowess and artistic talent. It brought together the efforts of Brazilians and international collaborators, further highlighting the significance and unity of the occasion.

When Was Christ the Redeemer Built?

In 1926, the construction of Christ the Redeemer, one of the world's most iconic monuments, was initiated. The project was collaborative between French engineer Paul Landowski and Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa.

The construction process began with Landowski modifying his original statue drawings to reflect the project’s vision and requirements. These adjustments were made in Paris, where clay models of the monument were also crafted.

After the clay models were completed, the project moved to Brazil, where the local construction process commenced. Concrete molds were created to shape the statue's body, arms, and head. These molds allowed for the precise replication of the design on a monumental scale.

The assembly of the statue's components was a meticulous process. Each part was carefully transported to the summit of Mount Corcovado, where Christ the Redeemer stands today. The body, arms, and head were precisely aligned and secured, resulting in the magnificent figure we see today.

Inauguration in 1931

The inauguration of Christ the Redeemer took place in 1931, marking a significant moment in Brazilian history. Numerous dignitaries, including Brazilian President Getúlio Vargas attended the grand ceremony. This event held immense significance for both the country and the world.

President Vargas delivered a powerful speech During the inauguration ceremony at the summit of Mount Corcovado in Rio de Janeiro. He spoke of the statue’s importance as a symbol of peace and unity, representing the values and aspirations of the Brazilian people.

Notable events occurred during the inauguration, adding to its historical significance. A flag of Brazil was unfurled on the statue, symbolizing the nation’s unity. Additionally, the event was broadcasted on radio, reaching a wide audience and solidifying the statue's status as a cultural icon.

The inauguration of Christ the Redeemer in 1931 was a momentous occasion, emphasizing its role as a national and international symbol of faith, peace, and unity. It continues to attract visitors worldwide, standing as a testament to Brazil's rich cultural heritage.

Renovations and Upgrades Since Then

Since its construction in 1931, the Christ the Redeemer statue has undergone several renovations and upgrades to preserve and maintain its iconic status.

In 1980, the statue was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, leading to restoration projects. The first major renovation occurred in 1989 when the soapstone tiles covering the statue were cleaned and repaired. This restoration project helped to regain the statue's original luster and shine.

In 2003, a major repair initiative was undertaken to address the damage caused by years of exposure to the elements. The cracks and erosion on the statue were repaired, and a new lightning rod was installed to protect the monument from lightning strikes.

Another renovation project was carried out in 2010 to commemorate the statue's 80th anniversary. This included the installation of an elevator and escalators to improve accessibility for visitors.

Throughout the years, additions such as viewpoints, walkways, and a visitor center have been constructed to enhance visitors' experience and provide a better understanding of the statue's significance.

These renovations and upgrades have ensured the longevity and continued grandeur of the Christ the Redeemer statue, making it one of the world's most beloved and recognizable landmarks.

How Was Christ the Redeemer Built?

Christ the Redeemer, one of the most iconic monuments in the world, stands tall on top of Mount Corcovado, overlooking the vibrant city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. But have you ever wondered how this colossal statue was built? The construction of Christ the Redeemer involved a collaboration between a French engineer, Heitor da Silva Costa, and a Polish-French sculptor, Paul Landowski. The idea for the statue was conceived in the early 1920s to promote Brazil and its Christian heritage. The design was chosen through a national competition, with Silva Costa's proposal being selected. Construction began in 1926 and took almost 10 years to complete. The statue was built using reinforced concrete and covered with approximately 6 million soapstone tiles. A cog train was used to transport the materials and workers up the steep terrain of Corcovado Mountain. The statue's arms were assembled separately in France and later transported to Brazil. Standing at 98 feet tall, with an arm span of 92 feet, Christ the Redeemer is a remarkable engineering feat and a symbol of peace and faith.

Designers & Engineers Involved: Heitor da Silva Costa & Paul Landowski

Heitor da Silva Costa, a Brazilian engineer, and Paul Landowski, a Polish-French sculptor, were the designers and engineers instrumental in constructing Christ the Redeemer. Silva Costa was responsible for the project’s overall design and engineering aspects, while Landowski crafted the iconic statue of Jesus Christ.

Silva Costa's role was crucial in turning the vision of the statue into a reality. He meticulously planned and supervised the construction process. Silva Costa's engineering expertise ensured the stability and durability of the monument, which stands atop Mount Corcovado in Rio de Janeiro.

On the other hand, Landowski was responsible for sculpting the statue itself. His artistic skills brought the statue to life, portraying Jesus Christ with his arms outstretched, a symbol of peace and redemption. The monumental statue, made of reinforced concrete and soapstone tiles, was assembled atop the mountain, overlooking the city of Rio de Janeiro.

The combined efforts of Silva Costa and Landowski resulted in the creation of one of the world's most iconic landmarks. Christ the Redeemer is a testament to their talent and a religious and cultural symbol for Brazil and beyond.

What Is Christ the Redeemer Made Of?

Christ the Redeemer, one of the world's most iconic monuments, is constructed using a combination of materials that contribute to its grandeur and durability. The statue’s base is reinforced concrete, providing a stable foundation for the colossal structure. This concrete base is crucial in supporting the statue’s weight and longevity.

The exterior structure of Christ the Redeemer is covered in soapstone tiles. Soapstone is a metamorphic rock known for its durability and ease of carving. The use of soapstone in the construction process has several advantages. Its durability allows the statue to withstand harsh weather conditions, such as strong winds and heavy rains, ensuring its preservation over time. Secondly, soapstone's smooth and homogeneous texture makes it an ideal material for sculpting intricate details, such as the facial features and the statue’s drapery.

Moreover, soapstone's aesthetic appeal adds to the overall beauty of Christ the Redeemer. The natural color and texture of soapstone give the statue a timeless and elegant look, further enhancing its spiritual significance as a symbol of peace and redemption.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the statue a tourist attraction.

Christ the Redeemer is undoubtedly one of the top tourist attractions in the world. The significance of this statue to Brazilians and its representation of Brazilian culture make it a must-see for visitors from all over the world.

As a cultural symbol, Christ the Redeemer holds a special place in the hearts of Brazilians. It represents their deep religious beliefs and reminds them of the country's predominantly Christian population. The statue stands as a testament to Brazil's vibrant and diverse culture, showcasing the strong influence of Christianity in everyday life.

The statue's grandeur and breathtaking location on Mount Corcovado make it a captivating sight that draws millions of visitors each year. The panoramic views of Rio de Janeiro's stunning landscape from the statue's pedestal are unparalleled. The statue's iconic positioning and imposing presence create a sense of awe and wonder, turning it into a magnet for tourists and photographers alike.

How Long Did it Take to Build Christ the Redeemer?

The construction of Christ the Redeemer was a labor of love that spanned several years. It was a massive undertaking that required meticulous planning, skilled craftsmanship, and unwavering dedication. The project was initiated in 1922 and after nine years of hard work, it was finally completed in 1931.

The construction timeline of Christ the Redeemer showcases the immense effort put into bringing this iconic statue to life. It was a collaborative effort between the Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa, the French engineer Albert Caquot, the Romanian sculptor Gheorghe Leonida, and the Polish-French sculptor Paul Landowski. The design was created by Da Silva Costa, who won a competition held by the Catholic Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro to select the best plan for the statue.

The Brazilian firm of engineer Pedro Maria Boss and architect Carlos Oswald oversaw the construction process, while Landowski and Leonida collaborated on sculpting the statue itself. The project faced several challenges, including the treacherous terrain of Mount Corcovado and the logistics of transporting the materials to the site. Despite the obstacles, the team persevered and worked tirelessly for almost a decade to make this monumental statue a reality.

In 1931, Christ the Redeemer was unveiled to the world, becoming an instant symbol of faith, peace, and cultural significance. Its completion marked the culmination of years of dedication and hard work, solidifying its place as one of the world's most famous and beloved landmarks.

Is the Statue Important to Brazilians?

The Christ the Redeemer statue holds immense significance to the Brazilian people, serving as a powerful religious, cultural, and national symbol. Being predominantly Catholic, Brazilians deeply value their faith, and the statue is a tangible representation of their devotion to Brazilian Catholicism.

As a religious symbol, the statue embodies the peace and love of Christ, reminding Brazilians of their spiritual beliefs and serving as a beacon of hope and inspiration. It serves as a constant reminder of the presence of Christ in their lives and calls them to embrace Christian values.

So… how did the statue get up there?

A series of ingenious methods were employed to transport and construct the statue of Christ the Redeemer on top of Mount Corcovado. First and foremost, the construction materials had to be transported to the top of the mountain. To accomplish this, a cog-wheel train was utilized. This train, designed for steep inclines, could carry heavy loads up the mountain's winding tracks.

Once the materials reached the mountaintop, the construction process began. Wooden poles were erected to serve as scaffolding for the statue's framework. Piece by piece, the statue was carefully assembled and secured in place.

How long are the arms of Christ the Redeemer?

The arms of Christ the Redeemer, one of the most iconic statues in the world, span an impressive length. Stretching outwards, the arms of the statue measure a remarkable 28 meters or approximately 92 feet. This measurement represents the outstretched reach of the statue, symbolizing an embrace that welcomes all who come to visit or gaze upon it.

The arms of Christ the Redeemer serve as a reminder of the enduring message of hope and unity that the statue embodies. It is a powerful symbol of faith and a testament to the incredible craftsmanship behind its construction. Visiting Christ the Redeemer allows one to experience a profound sense of awe and contemplation, as they stand beneath the outstretched arms of this magnificent religious monument.

How Much Did the Statue Cost To Build?

The construction of the Christ the Redeemer statue was made possible through various funding sources. The total cost to build the statue in 1931 was approximately $250,000, equivalent to around $4,807,500 in 2022.

Funding for the project came from both public and private donations. The Catholic Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro played a significant role in raising funds, as the statue was intended to be a religious symbol. The Brazilian government also contributed to the project, viewing it as a way to promote tourism and showcase the country's rich cultural heritage.

How did the Christ the Redeemer statue’s construction impact Rio de Janeiro’s local economy?

The construction of the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro profoundly impacted the local economy.
The statue quickly became a major draw for tourists worldwide, boosting tourism activity and creating new job opportunities.
The visitor surge invigorated the city, driving economic development and promoting a sense of hope and optimism.
The awe-inspiring statue has been a source of pride for locals, providing a sense of identity and belonging.
As a result, Christ the Redeemer has become a symbol of Rio de Janeiro and its thriving economy.

Were there any controversies or opposition surrounding the construction of the statue?

Construction of the Christ the Redeemer statue sparked controversy and opposition.
Public opinion varied, with some questioning the use of resources and funds.
Princess Isabel did not support the idea.
Despite the opposition, the statue stands today as a symbol of hope and unity.
It serves as a reminder that we can come together to create something meaningful, even in the face of opposition.

Is the Christ the Redeemer statue the largest religious statue in the world?

The Christ the Redeemer statue is one of the world's largest religious statues:

Standing tall and majestic symbolizes faith, love, and unity.
It inspires a feeling of connection with something greater than oneself.
It serves as a reminder that there is always hope and spirituality no matter where you are.
It is a testament to human ingenuity and devotion.
It is truly a sight to behold and admired by millions of people around the world.

How has the popularity of the Christ the Redeemer statue affected tourism in Brazil?

The Christ the Redeemer statue has dramatically affected Brazil’s tourism, drawing millions annually.
Its presence has brought increased economic activity to the region and generated new business opportunities.
The statue symbolizes Brazilian unity and faith, inspiring people from across the globe to explore the country's vibrant culture and rich heritage.
Tourists are left with a lasting impression of Brazil, thanks to the awe-inspiring statue.
The Christ the Redeemer statue’s popularity has transformed Brazil’s tourism.

What are some interesting facts or trivia about the construction process of the Christ the Redeemer statue?

The construction process of the Christ the Redeemer statue was a remarkable feat of dedication and teamwork:

It took around nine years to complete.
It was made using soapstone tiles and reinforced concrete, making it durable.
The pieces were transported up the mountain using a cog train.
A separate team was responsible for assembling the pieces.
The construction process highlighted the hard work and coordination of the workers involved.

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“Christ the Redeemer” Statue – An Analysis of the Giant Jesus Statue

The Christ the Redeemer statue, the giant Jesus statue in Brazil, is also known as the Cristo Redentor in Portuguese. Mount Corcovado, which is commemorated in folk and contemporary songs and rises above Brazil’s largest port city, is home to the famed Rio de Janeiro statue. The construction of the Jesus Christ statue in Brazil was completed in the year 1931. The Brazilian statue is not only symbolic of Rio de Janeiro and Brazil as a whole, but it is also one of the seven Modern Wonders of the World.

Table of Contents

1.1 Paul Landowski (1875 – 1961)
1.2 History of the Famous Jesus Christ Statue in Brazil
1.3 Restoration Efforts
2.1 Scale and Proportion
2.2 Aesthetics
2.3 Construction and Preservation
2.4 Symbolism
2.5 Collaboration in Architecture
3.1 Who Designed the Jesus Christ Statue in Brazil?
3.2 Why Was the Giant Jesus Statue in Brazil Created?

The Story of the Christ the Redeemer Statue

The famous Rio de Janeiro statue is the earth’s biggest Art Deco-style artwork. The giant Jesus statue in Brazil is composed of strengthened concrete and is coated in a patchwork of thousands of triangle tiles made from soapstone.

It rests on a stone pedestal foundation that is roughly 8 meters in height and is located on a platform above the mountain’s peak. It was designed by sculptor Paul Landowski in 1931.

Paul Landowski (1875 – 1961)

	French
	1 June 1875
	31 March 1961
	Paris, France

On the 1st of June, 1875, Paul Landowski was born in Paris. He finished his secondary education at Collège Rollin, where he gained a comprehensive literary grounding. He encountered the authors who would become his heroic inspirations – Shakespeare, Aeschylus, and Hugo – as well as the other whimsical, sensuous face of antiquity.

Landowski also discovered Flaubert, who epitomized the dedication that he saw as the designer’s work ethos in his own pantheon. He specialized in philosophy and intended to produce verse play.

He encountered Henri Barbusse in his first year of a preparatory school in 1892. They were lifelong friends and shared a fierce humanism, though not the same political commitment. Landowski began to draw more and more as his profession developed. In 1893, he enrolled at the Académie Jullian, where he trained under the academic painter Jules Lefebvre, a rigorous lecturer who may have contributed to Landowski’s expertise in portraits and nudes. Simultaneously, he witnessed daily autopsies for the anatomical plates Professor Faraboeuf had given him to sketch for his Medical School courses.

Landowski would later create a statue of himself for the Medical School as a type of gratitude and homage at the height of his career. This is how he gained his very exact understanding of anatomy, which he thought to be the foundation of a sculptor’s work; Landowski was certain that creativity and inventiveness could only be achieved via flawless technical proficiency. Landowski was admitted to the Institut de France in 1926, and a procession of celebrities passed through his workshop between the wars and left behind an excellent set of photographs.

In 1928 in Paris, the city authorized the “Sainte Genevieve” sculpture, then ordered the sculpture of “Montaigne” (1934), and the Mausoleum of Maréchal Foch. Paul Landowski thus became well-known worldwide.

After sculpting a monument of Sun Yat-sen for his tomb in the Purple Mountains near Nanjing at the suggestion of the Kuomintang executive committee in 1928, Landowski was tasked to design what is without a doubt his most notable piece, the Christ the Redeemer statue, at the invitation of Brazil and da Silva Costa, the architect of the structure.

History of the Famous Jesus Christ Statue in Brazil

In the mid-1850s, Vincentian clergyman Pedro Maria Boss proposed erecting a Christian memorial on Mount Corcovado to commemorate Princess Isabel, sovereign of Brazil and the child of Emperor Pedro II, but the idea was not accepted. The nation became a republic in 1889, and the intended Rio de Janeiro statue was rejected due to the division of religion and state.

In 1920, the Catholic Circle of Rio submitted a second proposal for a giant Jesus statue in Brazil atop the summit.

The organization planned “Monument Week” to raise funds and gather signatures in favor of the statue’s construction. The group was inspired by their perception of “Godlessness” in society. The majority of the gifts came from Brazilian Catholics. A picture of the Christian crucifix, a pedestal representing the earth, and a sculpture of Christ holding a globe, were among the ideas proposed for the Jesus Christ statue in Brazil.

The Cristo Redentor with extended arms was selected as a symbol of peace. The sculpture was initially designed by Heitor da Silva Costa, a local engineer, and Carlos Oswald. The sculpture was made by French artist Paul Landowski. Landowski recruited renowned Parisian Romanian sculptor Gheorghe Leonida, who pursued sculpture at Bucharest’s Fine Arts Conservatory and in Italy, in 1922.

After reviewing Landowski’s suggestions, a panel of engineers and technicians decided that creating the framework of strengthened concrete rather than steel would be more appropriate for the cross-shaped sculpture.

The base’s concrete was delivered from Limhamn, Sweden. The exterior layers are soapstone, which was chosen for its convenience and durability of usage. The monument was completed in nine years, from 1922 to 1931, for $250,000, and it was dedicated on the 12th of October, 1931. The landmark was supposed to be lighted for the inauguration ceremony by a system of headlights programmed distantly by the shortwave radio innovator Guglielmo Marconi, who was located 9,200 kilometers away in Rome, but the lighting was activated on-site owing to adverse weather.

The Archbishop of Rio, on the 75th anniversary of the monument’s construction in October 2006, established a chapel underneath the statue named after Brazil’s patron saint, Our Lady of the Apparition, allowing Catholics to perform baptisms and weddings there. On the 10th of February, 2008, lightning hit the statue during a heavy thunderstorm, inflicting minor damage to the fingers, head, and brows. The state government of Rio de Janeiro launched a restoration operation to replace parts of the exterior soapstone layers and fix the monument’s lightning rods.

On the 17th of January, 2014, lightning struck it again, detaching a digit on the right hand. The extensive repair of the monument began in 2010. Cleaning, rebuilding mortar and soapstone on the façade, restoring iron in the interior construction, and waterproofing the statue were all part of the work.

During the restoration, vandals sprayed paint along the arm of the monument. The incident was described as an “atrocity against the nation” by Mayor Eduardo Paes. The perpetrators eventually apologized and surrendered to authorities.

Pirelli tires launched a 1998 ad in which he replaced the sculpture while dressed in an Inter Milan jersey, in homage to Brazil forward Ronaldo’s typical goal celebration with both arms outstretched. The Catholic Church was enraged by the commercial.

Restoration Efforts

Several groups, including the media firm Grupo Globo, the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro, the oil giant Shell do Brasil, the environmental agency IBAMA, and the Rio de Janeiro municipal government agreed to perform rehabilitation work in 1990. More renovation of the monument and its surroundings was done between 2003 and early 2010. To enable access to the platform around the monument, escalators, platforms, and lifts were erected in 2003. In 2010, a four-month renovation concentrated on the sculpture itself.

The structural integrity of the sculpture was repaired, as well as its soapstone mosaic coating, by eradicating a crust of fungus and other germs and mending microscopic cracks.

The lightning rods in the monument’s head and arms have also been restored, and new lighting fittings have been put at the statue’s base. One hundred workers were involved in the restoration, which employed more than 60,000 pieces of stone from the very same quarries as the initial monument.

During the unveiling of the rebuilt monument, it was lighted with yellow and green lighting in support of Brazil’s national football team, which is competing in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Because of the intense winds and corrosion to which the monument is subjected, as well as lightning strikes, routine maintenance must be performed regularly.

The original light stone is no longer in adequate supply, and substitute stones are becoming darker in color.

One of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World

There are a few reasons that the giant Jesus statue in Brazil or Cristo Redentor is regarded as an iconic artwork. The famous Brazilian statue is renowned worldwide. The Jesus Christ statue in Brazil was selected as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World in 2007, defeating the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, which was just one of 21 candidates. The Brazilian monument is not as ancient and is smaller than Lady Liberty, but its felt presence is strong – the statue is everywhere in this South American metropolis, even though Lady Liberty was soon ignored on the sidewalks of New York City.

The monument, with the modest chapel beneath the pedestal, took five years to build and was dedicated on the 12th of October, 1931, making it not even a very ancient monument. So, what’s the big deal about the Brazilian statue of Christ? There are at least five compelling explanations.

Scale and Proportion

Christ takes on the appearance of a man, with human dimensions but super-human or superman stature. From a distance, the statue seems to be a cross in the heavens. Close up, the immensity of the statue dwarfs the human figure. The human spirit is intrigued and humbled by this contradiction of proportion. The ancient Greeks understood the importance of proportion and size in design.

The “holy geometry” of the Vitruvian Man image, with arms extended inside squares and circles, was popularized by Leonardo da Vinci, although it was architect Marcus Vitruvius who noted and recorded the measurements of the human form – long before Jesus Christ was born.

The Christian Latin cross has great importance, although its basic shape may be linked back to ancient Greece.

The design and materials of the statue are very beautiful. The arms outstretched produce the sacred image of the Apse, a symmetry that not only strikes the human sight but also invokes deep feelings as religious iconography.

The materials used to build the Christ the Redeemer monument are bright in hue, radiating light from the sun, moon, and nearby spotlights.

Even if it were not possible for one to observe the sculpted intricacies, the picture of a white cross remained. The monument is in the art deco form, yet it is as friendly and welcoming as any Renaissance religious icon.

Construction and Preservation

Building a massive yet delicate-looking structure at the top of a very high mountain was a feat comparable to constructing the famous skyscrapers that were being built in New York City and Chicago at the same time. Actual physical construction did not commence until 1926 when the pedestal and church were built.

On top of the base, scaffolding in the shape of an extended person was built. Workers were brought up the mountain by rail to erect the steel mesh that would strengthen the concrete.

The size of any major structure adds to the “wow” effect of architecture. Each hand on the monument is 10.5 feet long. Thousands of soapstone triangular tiles are set into the steel-reinforced concrete. Since its completion in 1931, Cristo Redentor has withstood the weather, including multiple lightning hits.

Designers anticipated ongoing maintenance by including interior rooms with entry doors to various portions of the monument. Professional cleaning businesses, such as Karcher North America, have been observed washing the tiles while riding a hand.

Symbolic architectural sculpture, such as the western elevation of the United States Supreme Court building, or perhaps the figures on the pediment of the New York Stock Exchange, is common. Statues are frequently used to communicate a corporation’s or a group of people’s beliefs or values. Statues, such as the Martin Luther King , Jr. statue, have also been used to represent a person’s life and work.

Artwork, like the Christ the Redeemer statue, can have various meanings – the symbol of the crucifix is forever prevalent on a mountaintop, a commemoration of the crucifixion, a representation of God’s light, God’s powerful, affectionate, and gentle human face, and the great blessing of a society by an ever-existing divinity.

Collaboration in Architecture

If architecture encompasses everything in the built world, we must consider the function of this monument in the same way that we would any other construction. What brings it here? The positioning of the structure on the site, like that of other buildings, is critical. The monument has become a symbol of people’s protection. The monument, like Christ himself, shields the city landscape, like a ceiling over one’s head.

“Cristo Redentor” is as necessary as any other refuge. The soul is protected by the renowned Brazilian statue.

Heitor da Silva Costa, a Brazilian engineer, and architect designed the monument. Da Silva Costa drew a figure of Christ when the foundation was placed in 1922. While he won the sculpture design contest, it’s possible that the open concept was the brainchild of Carlos Oswald, who worked with da Silva Costa on the finalized versions. Landowski created scale versions of the concept at his workshop in France and sculpted the hands and head separately. Because this building would be exposed to the extremes of rain and wind, French engineer Albert Caquot provided extra construction direction.

It’s quite incredible how many individuals it takes to turn a building concept into a reality. When we consider all of the people engaged in a project like this, we may pause and consider that teamwork may be the true cause for the popularity of the monument. Nobody can accomplish it on their own. This is a spiritual and emotional example of architecture.

Take a look at our Jesus statue in Brazil webstory here!

Frequently Asked Questions

Who designed the jesus christ statue in brazil.

Several people were responsible for the creation of the monument. It was originally designed by Heitor da Silva Costa, a Brazilian engineer, and architect. When the foundation was laid in 1922, da Silva Costa sketched a depiction of Christ. Although he won the statue design competition, it’s possible that the open-arm design was the brainchild of artist Carlos Oswald, who worked with da Silva Costa on the final designs. Landowski sculpted the hands and head separately in his workshop in France, creating scale models of the concept. Because this building would be exposed to strong winds and rain, French engineer Albert Caquot provided additional construction instructions.

Why Was the Giant Jesus Statue in Brazil Created?

The Catholic Circle of Rio proposed a plan for a massive Jesus statue atop the peak in Brazil in 1920. The group organized Monument Week in order to generate finances and signatures in support of the statue’s erection. The group was urged on by their belief in society’s so-called Godlessness. Brazilian Catholics provided the majority of the contributions. One of the ideas proposed for the Jesus Christ statue in Brazil was a picture of the crucifix, a sculpture of Christ clutching a globe, and a pedestal symbolizing the world. As a symbol of peace, the Cristo Redentor statue was chosen.

Isabella studied at the University of Cape Town in South Africa and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts majoring in English Literature & Language and Psychology. Throughout her undergraduate years, she took Art History as an additional subject and absolutely loved it. Building on from her art history knowledge that began in high school, art has always been a particular area of fascination for her. From learning about artworks previously unknown to her, or sharpening her existing understanding of specific works, the ability to continue learning within this interesting sphere excites her greatly.

Her focal points of interest in art history encompass profiling specific artists and art movements, as it is these areas where she is able to really dig deep into the rich narrative of the art world. Additionally, she particularly enjoys exploring the different artistic styles of the 20 th century, as well as the important impact that female artists have had on the development of art history.

Learn more about Isabella Meyer and the Art in Context Team .

Cite this Article

Isabella, Meyer, ““Christ the Redeemer” Statue – An Analysis of the Giant Jesus Statue.” Art in Context. April 20, 2022. URL: https://artincontext.org/christ-the-redeemer-statue/

Meyer, I. (2022, 20 April). “Christ the Redeemer” Statue – An Analysis of the Giant Jesus Statue. Art in Context. https://artincontext.org/christ-the-redeemer-statue/

Meyer, Isabella. ““Christ the Redeemer” Statue – An Analysis of the Giant Jesus Statue.” Art in Context , April 20, 2022. https://artincontext.org/christ-the-redeemer-statue/ .

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About the Christ the Redeemer Statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Art History
Architecture

Doctor of Arts, University of Albany, SUNY
M.S., Literacy Education, University of Albany, SUNY
B.A., English, Virginia Commonwealth University

The Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil is iconic. Sitting atop Corcovado mountain and overlooking the city of Rio de Janeiro, it is a statue known around the world. Cristo Redentor is the local name for Rio's statue of Jesus Christ, although English-speakers call it the Christ Redeemer statue or Christ, the Redeemer . More secular students of statuary simply call it the Corcovado statue or Christ of Corcovado . No matter the name, it is striking architectural design and construction.

In 2007, the Christ the Redeemer statue was named one of the New 7 Wonders of the World — beating out the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, which was only one of the 21 finalists. The Brazilian statue is not as old and it's smaller than Lady Liberty, yet its perceived presence is pervasive — Christ the Redeemer is omnipresent throughout this South American city even when Lady Liberty is quickly forgotten on the streets of New York City.

Cristo Redentor stands only 125 feet tall (38 meters, including pedestal). The statue, including the small chapel within the pedestal, took five years to construct, being inaugurated on October 12, 1931, so it's not even a very old statue. So, why do we care about the Christ the Redeemer statue? There are at least five good reasons.

1. Proportion and Scale

Christ takes the form of man, designed with human proportions but of super-human or superman size. From afar, the statue is a cross in the sky. Close up, the statue's size overwhelms the human form. This duality of proportion is intriguing and humbling to the human soul. The ancients Greeks knew the power of proportion and scale in design. Leonardo da Vinci may have popularized the "sacred geometry" of the Vetruvian Man figure , with arms outstretched within circles and squares, but it was architect Marcus Vitruvius (81 B.C. – A.D. 15) who noticed and documented the proportions of the human form — way back before the birth of Jesus Christ. The symbolism attached to the Christian Latin cross is profound, yet its simple design can be traced back to ancient Greece.

2. Aesthetics

The statue evokes beauty in both design and materials. The outstretched arms create the holy figure of the Latin cross — a balanced proportion that not only pleases the human eye but also invokes strong emotion as Christian iconography. The construction materials used to make the Christ the Redeemer statue are light-colored, readily reflecting light from the sun, the moon, and surrounding spotlights. Even if you couldn't see the sculptural details, the image of a white cross is always there. The statue is a modernist style called art deco yet it is as approachable and inviting as any Renaissance religious figure.

3. Engineering and Preservation

Building a large but delicate-looking structure at the top of a very steep mountain was an accomplishment similar to engineering the historic skyscrapers being built in Chicago and New York City during the same time period. Actual onsite construction didn't begin until 1926, with the building of the pedestal and chapel. Scaffolding in the form of the outstretched figure was erected on top of that base. Workers were transported by rail up the mountain to assemble the steel mesh that would reinforce the concrete. The magnitude of any large structure gives architecture a "wow" factor. For the Christ the Redeemer statue, each hand is 10.5 feet long. Thousands of triangular tiles of soapstone are inlaid into the steel-reinforced concrete. Cristo Redentor has braved the elements, including several lightening strikes, since it was completed in 1931. Designers planned for continued maintenance by creating internal areas with access doors to various parts of the statue. Professional cleaning companies such as Karcher North America have been seen straddling a hand while cleaning the tiles.

4. Symbolism

Architectural statuary is often symbolic, like the figures within the pediment of the New York Stock Exchange or the western pediment of the U.S. Supreme Court building. Statues are often used as an expression of belief or what is valued by a corporation or group of people. Statues have also been used to symbolize a person's life and work, such as the Lei Yixin-designed Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial in Washington, D.C. Sculpture can have multiple meanings, as it does with Christ the Redeemer — the sign of the cross is forever present on a mountaintop, the remembrance of a crucifixion, the reflection of God's light, the strong, loving, and forgiving human face of God, and the blessing of a community by an ever present deity. For Christians, the statue of Jesus Christ may be more than a symbol. The Christ the Redeemer statue announces to the world that Rio de Janeiro is a Christian city.

5. Architecture as Protection and Collaboration

If architecture includes everything in the built environment , we look at the purpose of this statue as we would any other structure. Why is it here? Like other buildings, the placement on the site (its location) is an important aspect. The statue of Christ the Redeemer has become a symbolic protector of people. Like Jesus Christ, the statue protects the urban environment, like a roof over your head. Cristo Redentor is as important as any shelter. Christ the Redeemer provides protection for the soul.

The Christ the Redeemer statue was designed by Brazilian engineer and architect Heitor da Silva Costa. Born in Rio de Janeiro on July 25, 1873, da Silva Costa had sketched a figure of Christ in 1922 when the foundation was laid. He won the statue design competition, but the open-arm design may have been the idea of artist Carlos Oswald (1882-1971), who helped da Silva Costa with the final sketches.

Another influence on the design was from French sculptor Paul Landowski (1875-1961). In his studio in France, Landowski made scale models of the design and separately sculpted the head and hands. Because this structure would be open to the elements of wind and rain, additional construction guidance was given by the French engineer Albert Caquot (1881-1976).

It is stunning how many people it takes to bring a building idea to reality. When we realize all of the people involved in a project such as this, we may pause and reflect that collaboration may be the real reason that the Christ the Redeemer statue is so popular. Nobody can do it alone. This is architecture for our spirit and soul.

Summary: Visual Aspects of Christo Redentor

Christ Redeemer Statue, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil DERWAL Fred/hemis.fr/Getty Images

Christ Redeemer Statue Maintenance Mario Tama/Getty Images

Lightening Damage to Fingertip Mario Tama/Getty Images (cropped)

Repairing Cristo Redentor Damaged by Multiple Lightning Strikes Mario Tama/Getty Images (cropped)

Inlaid Triangular Tiles of Soapstone on the Shoulder of the Statue Mario Tama/Getty Images

Cristo Redentor Statue and the Sugarloaf Mountain Moskow/Getty Images

The Road Leading to Cristo Redentor John Wang/Getty Images

Christ the Redeemer at www.paul-landowski.com/en/christ-the-redeemer [accessed June 11, 2014]
Christ the Redeemer by Lorraine Murray, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. , Last Updated January 13, 2014 [accessed June 11, 2014]
New 7 Wonders of the World at world.new7wonders.com [accessed February 1, 2017]
"Arms Wide Open," BBC News, March 10, 2014 [accessed February 1, 2017]
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Christ the Redeemer

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Location : Rio-de-Janeiro, Brazil

GPS : 22° 57' 8.42" South / 43° 12' 41.21" West

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Christ the Redeemer at Rio

Christ the Redeemer is a monumental statue located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the symbol of the city and, beyond that, of the whole Brazil. It is also a symbol of Christianity among the most important of the World. Christ the Redeemer is also an important tourist destination, with 600,000 visitors a year.

General point of view of Christ the Redeemer at Rio-de-Janeiro

It was first imagined in 1850 by a Catholic priest, but this project was born in 1920, when a petition of support was initiated for the construction of a Christian statue. Once the style was chosen, construction began in 1922, and took nine years to be completed. Today, Christ the Redeemer is one of the seven new wonders of the world , a title recently given to 7 world monuments to reflect the list of 7 ancient wonders. It is also the most famous monument in Brazil, and its symbole , such as the Statue of Liberty is for the United States, the Eiffel Tower for France, or the Taj Mahal for India.

Today the Christ of Rio, or the Corcovado as it is called more frequently, is a monument very visited, it is among the most visited monuments of Brazil. To get there you have to go early and buy your tickets in advance on the Internet. The menus below will give you more explanations on this monument depending on what you want.

Its history

The appellations

This statue has an astonishing diversity of name. Formally known as "Christ the Redeemer", in Portuguese "Cristo redendor", it is better known as "Christ of Rio" or "statue of Rio", proof that in the imagination of the peoples, Rio has only one statue recognizable among all. To speak of the statue of Rio is to speak of the redeeming Christ, point. Even if the city contains thousands of other statues. Located on Mount Corcovado , it is naturally called "Christ of the Corcovado", "Statue of the Corcovado" or even "The Corcovado", whereas this name designates the mountain on which it is, not the statue itself. It's a bit like being called "Montmartre" the Sacré Coeur de Paris!

This website has chosen to use its official name, "Christ the Redeemer", but other names are sometimes used too.

The author of the statue, a permanent dispute

It was made by Heitor da Silva Costa. But this simple phrase masks the real actors of the project, because some attribute the name of Paul Landowski, a French, to Christ the Redeemer. So who actually built it?

Well it's a bit complicated. In fact, when Brazil launched a competition for the erection of a statue of Christ on Mount Corcovado, it received several answers. The winner was Heitor da Silva Costa , who had presented the statue of a standing Christ holding a long cross in one hand and a globe in the other. But his project was unsuccessful, he did not know how to build it or what material to use. During the years of preparation he had to call on several people to help him, but it is clear that all these people did more than help him: They did the job. Thus the statue has been completely redesigned, its current form, with arms crossed, and its purified style is by the artist Carlos Oswald. Then the model was made by Paul Landowski , a Frenchman of Polish origin, master in Fine Arts. He worked on clay but at real size, making stretches. These pieces of clay were embarked on boats which arrived at Rio, where they were used for the manufacture of mussels. These molds were used to make real pieces of concrete. But there remained a problem: We had to make the internal structure of the statue, concrete because it was the material that had been chosen. Not knowing how to calculate it (The use of concrete, in architecture, was recent), da Silva Costa brought in another Frenchman, Albert Caquot, engineer of his state, and able to mount this internal structure. Finally, it must be known that the face of Christ the Redeemer was not drawn by Landowski, he made work Gheorghe Leonida, a Romanian sculptor.

The construction of the Christ of Rio was therefore a complex operation that involved a large number of people, but the paternity of the statue is given to Heitor da Silva Costa or Paul Landowski, depending on which side of the ocean one is ...

Learn more about the workers who worked on the statue.

A gigantic statue

Yes, gigantic is the word, but not exceptional! And yes, Christ of Rio is a great statue, but it is far from being among the highest in the world. It measures 38m high, including 8m of base. For example, the Statue of Liberty measures 43m by itself, and it is perched on an even larger base, 46m high! Poor Christ the Redeemer will be very small if put side by side.

Moreover, the statue of Liberty, if it is one of the largest statues of the World, is rather small in this classification. In Asia, several statues of Buddha are gigantic. In Ukraine, the "Mother-Fatherland Statue" in Kiev is 62m high, almost double that of Rio! And yet the latter possesses something that the others do not have, a sort of aura due to the choice of the model represented, as well as to its form. With her arms outstretched as a sign of redemption, her eyes lowered towards the city, she reveals a serenity that counteracts the statue of Genghis Khan in Ulan Bator (Mongolia), for example. Only the statues of Buddhas in the Asian countries possess this capacity for meditation, but since they are far from our modes of thought, they impress us less.

Learn more about dimensions of the statue .

A strategic location

The choice of the location of the statue of Rio is not insignificant of course. The goal sought by the Brazilian State, sponsored and promoted by the Catholic Church, was that this new statue be visible to as many Cariocas as possible. It was then necessary that it should be at the top of one of the numerous hills surrounding the city, and the Corcovado was chosen after hesitation with the Sugar Loaf. This choice was dictated simply by the height of the mountain: 710m high, it was greater than its rival. Moreover, the face that appears of the city is abrupt, it is a cliff, it reinforces the impression of height, and it is in the axis of the sunset, which makes it solar at night. It is for all these reasons that the Corcovado was chosen to welcome the Statue.

Learn more about the location of the statue .

One of the Seven Wonders of the World!

The list of the seven wonders of the world has been known since antiquity, but few can list their memory. On the other hand, that of the Seven New Wonders of the World is easier to remember. And among her, Christ the Redeemer of Rio holds the 3 rd place.

The 7 Wonders of the Modern World were nominated following a vote organized by the New Seven Wonders Foundation, a foundation created by Swiss businessman Bernard Weber linked to a private marketing company. It is therefore a private initiative with a mercantile goal which has absolutely nothing to do with Unesco, although it is often credited with the project, but any will to increase the cultural knowledge of the world is favorable, we will not sulk our pleasure. The criteria chosen for the final choice were the aesthetics of course, but also the complexity of implementation in the historical context, that is, the fact that the architects of the time were able to build it despite the limited opportunity they had to do so. Another criterion was the historical interest of the monument. All technical exploits carried out for aesthetic or cultic purposes, such as skyscrapers or hydraulic dams, too recent monuments (the limit was fixed at the year 2000, the latest), were rejected as well as the monuments in a state of disrepair too advanced. Of the 177 files presented, only 21 were retained, for 7 winners. One out of three therefore. The results were promulgated on 7 July 2007 in Lisbon.

Here are the seven wonders of the modern world:

The great Wall of China
The city of Petra
Christ the Redeemer of Rio
The Machu Picchu
The aztecs pyramids at Chichen Itza
The Coloseum of Roma
The Taj Mahal

You have not found what you are looking for ?

Go to the many pages of this site, you have the answer to your question: A FAQ ? first of all, but also photos , and the information necessary to visit it .

Alternatively, you can see other monuments: Eiffel Tower , Statue of Liberty , Taj Mahal , etc.

History of art
Architecture
Tijuca park
Construction
Controverses
Biographies
Heitor da Silva Costa
Paul Landowski
Leme da Silveira Cintra

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Spring 2022 Christ the Redeemer -->

Introduction: christ the redeemer.

The Spring 2022 issue of Communio pursues the theme “Christ the Redeemer.” In his first encyclical, Redemptor hominis , Pope St. John Paul II wrote that man “cannot live without love” (10), meaning that for man to find himself he must both accept Christ the Redeemer’s love and indeed “assimilate the whole of the reality of the Incarnation and Redemption” (10) by loving in return as he is loved. In sending of the Spirit of charity, God seeks to transfigure nothing less than the totality of human existence. The essays collected here testify to the way Christ heals man by gathering all that man is into his own eucharistic self-sharing for the life of world and to the glory of the Father.

José Granados , in “Christ, Redeemer of the Body and Redeemer of Love: The Proposal of Karol Wojtyła,” reflects on how God’s salvation of man includes in its completeness the body’s natural ordering toward communion. Through an interpretation of three plays by Wojtyła, Granados explores how the freedom for love given in Christ also restores man to his original reception of and responsibility for his body in relationship with others, above all as this is epitomized in the life of the family. “It must be said that a key to the redemption of the body is the movement from ‘my body’ said of objects to ‘my body’ understood in a personal way. When this happens . . . the body is understood not as a place of possession and domination but as a place of welcoming, self-gift, and surrender.”

In “Christ in Preaching and Sacrament: A Rapprochement of Catholic and Protestant Views,” Gerhard Ludwig Müller engages with the view, starkly expressed by Adolf von Harnack, that sets Protestant preaching in opposition to Catholic sacramentality. As Müller argues, the Incarnate Word’s teaching was oriented to and prepared the way for his saving works, and these works are themselves God’s most eloquent utterance of his own goodness. The necessary unity of these two dimensions of Christ’s earthly mission, furthermore, reflects our own constitution as inseparably spiritual and bodily, and this same unity is expressed accordingly in the Church’s own task of mediating Christ’s self-offering. “Through the Church, Christ preaches himself, doing so equally by the proclamation of the Gospel as his words and by the sacraments as his deeds .”

Brant Pitre sets out to address a consequential problem in the modern reception of John’s gospel in “Jesus, the Last Supper, and the Paschal Mystery: Rethinking the Date of the Last Supper in John.” Many prominent exegetes have insisted that, on John’s account, the Last Supper should not be understood as a celebration of the Jewish Passover, but rather as a farewell meal before Jesus enters into his Passion. Pitre disputes this interpretation by attending to the various stages of the Passover in first-century Judaism. Instead, he holds that John reaffirms the synoptic chronology of the Passion, thus preserving the theological truth that Jesus in the Last Supper is “revealing himself to be the eschatological Passover lamb whose sacrificial death will inaugurate the long-awaited new exodus.”

John Nepil examines the relationship between the priest’s office and his person in “A Miracle of Grace: Hans Urs von Balthasar’s Vision of Priestly Spirituality.” If the whole of the priest’s vocation consists in adhering to the office he has sacramentally received, this office itself flows from and represents Christ’s life-form, within which Christ humanly enacts his divine self-gift to the Father. “The priest Christ seeks is a living holocaust, one who has conformed himself subjectively to his kenotic Lord.” The insuperable difference between the received office and the man who receives it, Nepil argues, comes upon the priest as a call to the humility through which alone God can draw him into Christ’s own fruitful sacrifice.

In “A Catholic Spirituality of Nonaction: Rereading Hans Urs Von Balthasar with the Daodejing ,” Joshua R. Brown turns to the classic text of Daoism to offer a critique of modernity’s titanic activism, which, he suggests, has affinities with Balthasar’s own theology of Christian discipleship. The Daodejing “encourages us to think of ourselves within the world of the gift, to recognize and realize our own naturalness, and thus to adopt a form of life whereby we can become friends with the world and the dao rather than terraform it as we envision.” Brown maintains that we can glimpse the Catholic redemption and fulfillment of Daoism’s “nonaction” (or superaction) through Balthasar’s reflections on the totality and gratuity of loving obedience to God in Christ that is exhibited by John, Mary, and Ignatius of Loyola.

In “Henri de Lubac and the Christian Mystery of Nature and Grace,” Nicholas J. Healy Jr. clarifies how de Lubac’s understanding of man’s original desire to see God upholds the integrity of human nature in its positive openness to the surpassing gift by which man is deified. Ultimately, Healy shows, this anthropological claim is rooted in fidelity to the very form of Christ’s saving revelation of the Father, in which Christ at once reveals man to himself. “The ground and pattern for the original integrity and ultimate destiny of human nature is the hypostatic union of God and man in Christ.”

Aaron Riches , in “ Qualcosa di Dio : The Metaphysics of Desire and Paradox of the Real,” defends de Lubac as a model of a theological approach that rightly seeks to conform itself to the reality of the mystery it contemplates. Riches presents how the weakening of Thomistic participatory metaphysics in the tradition of commentary on Aquinas gave rise to the understanding of pure nature that de Lubac opposes. In the wake of that decline, the paradoxical structure of being can be rediscovered by turning, as de Lubac does, to God revealed in flesh and blood. “The crucifixion is the sign of salvation precisely because it is the concrete sign of paradox ( signum contradicetur ) where the unity of the God-man is brought to the breaking point—but does not break.”

Jacques Servais , in “Balthasar: Proponent and Beneficiary of the Thought of Ferdinand Ulrich,” depicts the fructifying influence that Ulrich’s philosophy had on Hans Urs von Balthasar. Offering an account of the personal and intellectual friendship between the two thinkers, Servais discusses how Balthasar found in Ulrich a Christian metaphysics and anthropology of gift that harmonized with and pervasively enriched his own theology. “In the school of St. Ignatius, Ulrich had learned and taught the ‘principle and foundation’ of human existence: ‘recognition’ full of gratitude for the faith of being created umsonst , for nothing, gratuitously, by a God of love.”

—The Editors

Essay, Paragraph, Speech on “Christ the Redeemer” Essay for Class 9, Class 10, Class 12 Class and Graduate Exams.

Christ the Redeemer

Christ the Redeemer is a statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil that was built as a symbol of Brazilian Christianity. In 1850, the idea of building a religious monument was first suggested by a Catholic Priest. It wasn’t until 1920 when a group petitioned for support to build a landmark statue that it became a reality. The design was chosen from several ideas and construction began in the 1920’s, taking nine years to finish. Today, Christ the Redeemer is one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

Interesting Facts:

Christ the Redeemer is the largest art deco statue in the world. It is 98 feet tall (not including the 26 foot pedestal), and the arms stretch to 92 feet wide.

The statue weighs approximately 635 tonnes.

Christ the Redeemer is located in the Tijuca Forest National Forest, at the top of the Corcovado Mountain.

The statue is considered an icon of Rio de Janeiro and Brazil.

Christ the Redeemer is the 5th largest statue of Jesus.

The first suggestion to build a large religious monument was made in the 1850s by a Catholic priest names Pedro Maria Boss. The request for financing wasn’t approved because Princess Isabel was not a fan of the idea. The request was officially denied in 1889 when Brazil mandated the separation of church and state. A petition started by a group in the early 1920s, called the Catholic Circle of Rio, was successful. Construction began in 1922 and took nine years to complete.

The money to build Christ the Redeemer came from Brazil’s Catholic community.

There were several designs to choose from. One was a depiction of the Christian cross. Another was a statue of Jesus holding a globe, while standing over a pedestal that was to symbolize the world.

The chosen statue is meant to show that Christ loves all and will embrace all that come to him.

The stones that were used to build Christ the Redeemer came from Sweden.

The statue was completed in 1931. It officially opened on October 12, 1931.

The cost in 1931 was approximately $250,000 US. Today that would roughly be the equivalent of $3.2 million US.

The statue had to be constructed in pieces and carried to the mountain top to be erected.

The materials used to build Christ the Redeemer were reinforced concrete and soapstone.

The right arm points to south Rio de Janeiro and the left arm points to north Rio de Janeiro.

In 2008 a violent electrical storm resulted in a lightning strike to the statue. The head, eyebrows and fingers were damaged. The soapstone exterior of the statue prevented severe damage as it acted as an insulator. The Rio de Janeiro state government began a restoration effort. They replaced some layers of soapstone and repaired the lightning rods on the statue.

All the stone used in restoration efforts came from the same quarry as the original stone.

Christ the Redeemer was vandalized in 2010 by a housepainter. He had sprayed the head and right arm with graffiti. The culprit was later identified.

In 2003 there were escalators, elevators and walkways installed. These made it possible to access the platform that surrounds Christ the Redeemer.

This statue became one of the New Seven Wonders of the World on July 7th, 2007.

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We are a fellowship of evangelical churches in the Reformed tradition deeply committed to renewing our faith in the gospel of Christ and to reforming our ministry practices to conform fully to the Scriptures. We have become deeply concerned about some movements within traditional evangelicalism that seem to be diminishing the church’s life and leading us away from our historic beliefs and practices. On the one hand, we are troubled by the idolatry of personal consumerism and the politicization of faith; on the other hand, we are distressed by the unchallenged acceptance of theological and moral relativism. These movements have led to the easy abandonment of both biblical truth and the transformed living mandated by our historic faith. We not only hear of these influences, we see their effects. We have committed ourselves to invigorating churches with new hope and compelling joy based on the promises received by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

We believe that in many evangelical churches a deep and broad consensus exists regarding the truths of the gospel. Yet we often see the celebration of our union with Christ replaced by the age-old attractions of power and affluence, or by monastic retreats into ritual, liturgy, and sacrament. What replaces the gospel will never promote a mission-hearted faith anchored in enduring truth working itself out in unashamed discipleship eager to stand the tests of kingdom-calling and sacrifice. We desire to advance along the King’s highway, always aiming to provide gospel advocacy, encouragement, and education so that current- and next-generation church leaders are better equipped to fuel their ministries with principles and practices that glorify the Savior and do good to those for whom he shed his life’s blood.

We want to generate a unified effort among all peoples—an effort that is zealous to honor Christ and multiply his disciples, joining in a true coalition for Jesus. Such a biblically grounded and united mission is the only enduring future for the church. This reality compels us to stand with others who are stirred by the conviction that the mercy of God in Jesus Christ is our only hope of eternal salvation. We desire to champion this gospel with clarity, compassion, courage, and joy—gladly linking hearts with fellow believers across denominational, ethnic, and class lines.

Our desire is to serve the church we love by inviting all our brothers and sisters to join us in an effort to renew the contemporary church in the ancient gospel of Christ so that we truly speak and live for him in a way that clearly communicates to our age. As pastors, we intend to do this in our churches through the ordinary means of his grace: prayer, the ministry of the Word, baptism and the Lord’s Supper and the fellowship of the saints. We yearn to work with all who, in addition to embracing the confession and vision set out here, seek the lordship of Christ over the whole of life with unabashed hope in the power of the Holy Spirit to transform individuals, communities, and cultures. You will find attached both our Confessional Statement and our Theological Vision for Ministry—a vision rooted in the Scriptures and centered on the gospel.

CONFESSIONAL STATEMENT

For more about our confessional statement, check out our series of 14 booklets written by the Council and edited by co-founders D. A. Carson and Timothy Keller.

The Tri-une God We believe in one God, eternally existing in three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who know, love, and glorify one another. This one true and living God is infinitely perfect both in his love and in his holiness. He is the Creator of all things, visible and invisible, and is therefore worthy to receive all glory and adoration. Immortal and eternal, he perfectly and exhaustively knows the end from the beginning, sustains and sovereignly rules over all things, and providentially brings about his eternal good purposes to redeem a people for himself and restore his fallen creation, to the praise of his glorious grace.
Creation of Humanity We believe that God created human beings, male and female, in his own image. Adam and Eve belonged to the created order that God himself declared to be very good, serving as God’s agents to care for, manage, and govern creation, living in holy and devoted fellowship with their Maker. Men and women, equally made in the image of God, enjoy equal access to God by faith in Christ Jesus and are both called to move beyond passive self-indulgence to significant private and public engagement in family, church, and civic life. Adam and Eve were made to complement each other in a one-flesh union that establishes the only normative pattern of sexual relations for men and women, such that marriage ultimately serves as a type of the union between Christ and his church. In God’s wise purposes, men and women are not simply interchangeable, but rather they complement each other in mutually enriching ways. God ordains that they assume distinctive roles which reflect the loving relationship between Christ and the church, the husband exercising headship in a way that displays the caring, sacrificial love of Christ, and the wife submitting to her husband in a way that models the love of the church for her Lord. In the ministry of the church, both men and women are encouraged to serve Christ and to be developed to their full potential in the manifold ministries of the people of God. The distinctive leadership role within the church given to qualified men is grounded in creation, fall, and redemption and must not be sidelined by appeals to cultural developments.
The Fall We believe that Adam, made in the image of God, distorted that image and forfeited his original blessedness—for himself and all his progeny—by falling into sin through Satan’s temptation. As a result, all human beings are alienated from God, corrupted in every aspect of their being (e.g., physically, mentally, volitionally, emotionally, spiritually) and condemned finally and irrevocably to death—apart from God’s own gracious intervention. The supreme need of all human beings is to be reconciled to the God under whose just and holy wrath we stand; the only hope of all human beings is the undeserved love of this same God, who alone can rescue us and restore us to himself.
The Plan of God We believe that from all eternity God determined in grace to save a great multitude of guilty sinners from every tribe and language and people and nation, and to this end foreknew them and chose them. We believe that God justifies and sanctifies those who by grace have faith in Jesus, and that he will one day glorify them—all to the praise of his glorious grace. In love God commands and implores all people to repent and believe, having set his saving love on those he has chosen and having ordained Christ to be their Redeemer.
The Gospel We believe that the gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ—God’s very wisdom. Utter folly to the world, even though it is the power of God to those who are being saved, this good news is christological, centering on the cross and resurrection: the gospel is not proclaimed if Christ is not proclaimed, and the authentic Christ has not been proclaimed if his death and resurrection are not central (the message is: “Christ died for our sins . . . [and] was raised”). This good news is biblical (his death and resurrection are according to the Scriptures), theological and salvific (Christ died for our sins, to reconcile us to God), historical (if the saving events did not happen, our faith is worthless, we are still in our sins, and we are to be pitied more than all others), apostolic (the message was entrusted to and transmitted by the apostles, who were witnesses of these saving events), and intensely personal (where it is received, believed, and held firmly, individual persons are saved).
The Redemption of Christ We believe that, moved by love and in obedience to his Father, the eternal Son became human: the Word became flesh, fully God and fully human being, one Person in two natures. The man Jesus, the promised Messiah of Israel, was conceived through the miraculous agency of the Holy Spirit, and was born of the virgin Mary. He perfectly obeyed his heavenly Father, lived a sinless life, performed miraculous signs, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead on the third day, and ascended into heaven. As the mediatorial King, he is seated at the right hand of God the Father, exercising in heaven and on earth all of God’s sovereignty, and is our High Priest and righteous Advocate. We believe that by his incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension, Jesus Christ acted as our representative and substitute. He did this so that in him we might become the righteousness of God: on the cross he canceled sin, propitiated God, and, by bearing the full penalty of our sins, reconciled to God all those who believe. By his resurrection Christ Jesus was vindicated by his Father, broke the power of death and defeated Satan who once had power over it, and brought everlasting life to all his people; by his ascension he has been forever exalted as Lord and has prepared a place for us to be with him. We believe that salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved. Because God chose the lowly things of this world, the despised things, the things that are not, to nullify the things that are, no human being can ever boast before him—Christ Jesus has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.
The Justification of Sinners We believe that Christ, by his obedience and death, fully discharged the debt of all those who are justified. By his sacrifice, he bore in our stead the punishment due us for our sins, making a proper, real, and full satisfaction to God’s justice on our behalf. By his perfect obedience he satisfied the just demands of God on our behalf, since by faith alone that perfect obedience is credited to all who trust in Christ alone for their acceptance with God. Inasmuch as Christ was given by the Father for us, and his obedience and punishment were accepted in place of our own, freely and not for anything in us, this justification is solely of free grace, in order that both the exact justice and the rich grace of God might be glorified in the justification of sinners. We believe that a zeal for personal and public obedience flows from this free justification.
The Power of the Holy Spirit We believe that this salvation, attested in all Scripture and secured by Jesus Christ, is applied to his people by the Holy Spirit. Sent by the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ, and, as the other Paraclete, is present with and in believers. He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and by his powerful and mysterious work regenerates spiritually dead sinners, awakening them to repentance and faith, and in him they are baptized into union with the Lord Jesus, such that they are justified before God by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. By the Spirit’s agency, believers are renewed, sanctified, and adopted into God’s family; they participate in the divine nature and receive his sovereignly distributed gifts. The Holy Spirit is himself the down payment of the promised inheritance, and in this age indwells, guides, instructs, equips, revives, and empowers believers for Christ-like living and service.
The Kingdom of God We believe that those who have been saved by the grace of God through union with Christ by faith and through regeneration by the Holy Spirit enter the kingdom of God and delight in the blessings of the new covenant: the forgiveness of sins, the inward transformation that awakens a desire to glorify, trust, and obey God, and the prospect of the glory yet to be revealed. Good works constitute indispensable evidence of saving grace. Living as salt in a world that is decaying and light in a world that is dark, believers should neither withdraw into seclusion from the world, nor become indistinguishable from it: rather, we are to do good to the city, for all the glory and honor of the nations is to be offered up to the living God. Recognizing whose created order this is, and because we are citizens of God’s kingdom, we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, doing good to all, especially to those who belong to the household of God. The kingdom of God, already present but not fully realized, is the exercise of God’s sovereignty in the world toward the eventual redemption of all creation. The kingdom of God is an invasive power that plunders Satan’s dark kingdom and regenerates and renovates through repentance and faith the lives of individuals rescued from that kingdom. It therefore inevitably establishes a new community of human life together under God.
God’s New People We believe that God’s new covenant people have already come to the heavenly Jerusalem; they are already seated with Christ in the heavenlies. This universal church is manifest in local churches of which Christ is the only Head; thus each “local church” is, in fact, the church, the household of God, the assembly of the living God, and the pillar and foundation of the truth. The church is the body of Christ, the apple of his eye, graven on his hands, and he has pledged himself to her forever. The church is distinguished by her gospel message, her sacred ordinances, her discipline, her great mission, and, above all, by her love for God, and by her mem- bers’ love for one another and for the world. Crucially, this gospel we cherish has both personal and corporate dimensions, neither of which may properly be overlooked. Christ Jesus is our peace: he has not only brought about peace with God, but also peace between alienated peoples. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both Jew and Gentile to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. The church serves as a sign of God’s future new world when its members live for the service of one another and their neighbors, rather than for self-focus. The church is the corporate dwelling place of God’s Spirit, and the continuing witness to God in the world.
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper We believe that baptism and the Lord’s Supper are ordained by the Lord Jesus himself. The former is con- nected with entrance into the new covenant community, the latter with ongoing covenant renewal. Together they are simultaneously God’s pledge to us, divinely ordained means of grace, our public vows of submission to the once crucified and now resurrected Christ, and anticipations of his return and of the consummation of all things.
The Restoration of All Things We believe in the personal, glorious, and bodily return of our Lord Jesus Christ with his holy angels, when he will exercise his role as final Judge, and his kingdom will be consummated. We believe in the bodily resur- rection of both the just and the unjust—the unjust to judgment and eternal conscious punishment in hell, as our Lord himself taught, and the just to eternal blessedness in the presence of him who sits on the throne and of the Lamb, in the new heaven and the new earth, the home of righteousness. On that day the church will be presented faultless before God by the obedience, suffering and triumph of Christ, all sin purged and its wretched effects forever banished. God will be all in all and his people will be enthralled by the immediacy of his ineffable holiness, and everything will be to the praise of his glorious grace.

This is not an outline of our doctrinal beliefs (see the Confessional Statement), but a statement of how we intend to discharge Christian ministry and interact with our culture in biblical and theological faithfulness.

I. How should we respond to the cultural crisis of truth? (The epistemological issue)

For several hundred years, since the dawning of the Enlightenment, it was widely agreed that truth—expressed in words that substantially correspond to reality—does indeed exist and can be known. Unaided human reason, it was thought, is able to know truth objectively. More recently, postmodernism has critiqued this set of assumptions, contending that we are not in fact objective in our pursuit of knowledge, but rather interpret information through our personal experiences, self–interests, emotions, cultural prejudices, language limitations, and relational communities. The claim to objectivity is arrogant, postmodernism tells us, and inevitably leads to conflicts between communities with differing opinions as to where the truth lies. Such arrogance, they say explains, in part, many of the injustices and wars of the modern era. Yet postmodernism’s response is dangerous in another way: its most strident voices insist that claims to objective truth be replaced by a more humbly “tolerant” and inclusively diverse subjective pluralism—a pluralism often mired in a swamp that cannot allow any firm ground for “the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.” Such a stance has no place for truth that corresponds to reality, but merely an array of subjectively shaped truths. How shall we respond to this cultural crisis of truth?

We affirm that truth is correspondence to reality. We believe the Holy Spirit who inspired the words of the apostles and prophets also indwells us so that we who have been made in the image of God can receive and understand the words of Scripture revealed by God, and grasp that Scripture’s truths correspond to reality. The statements of Scripture are true, precisely because they are God’s statements, and they correspond to reality even though our knowledge of those truths (and even our ability to verify them to others) is always necessarily incomplete. The Enlightenment belief in thoroughly objective knowledge made an idol out of unaided human reason. But to deny the possibility of purely objective knowledge does not mean the loss of truth that corresponds to objective reality, even if we can never know such truth without an element of subjectivity. See CS–(2).
We affirm that truth is conveyed by Scripture. We believe that Scripture is pervasively propositional and that all statements of Scripture are completely true and authoritative. But the truth of Scripture cannot be exhausted in a series of propositions. It exists in the genres of narrative, metaphor, and poetry which are not exhaustively distillable into doctrinal propositions, yet they convey God’s will and mind to us so as to change us into his likeness.
We affirm that truth is correspondence of life to God. Truth is not only a theoretical correspondence but also a covenantal relationship. The biblical revelation is not just to be known, but to be lived ( Deut 29:29 ). The purpose of the Bible is to produce wisdom in us—a life wholly submitted to God’s reality. Truth, then, is correspondence between our entire lives and God’s heart, words and actions, through the mediation of the Word and Spirit. To eliminate the propositional nature of biblical truth seriously weakens our ability to hold, defend, and explain the gospel. But to speak of truth only as propositions weakens our appreciation of the incarnate Son as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and the communicative power of narrative and story, and the importance of truth as living truly in correspondence to God.
We adopt a “chastened” correspondence–theory of truth that is less triumphalistic than that of some in the older evangelicalism. But we also reject a view of truth that sees truth as nothing more than the internally coherent language of a particular faith–community. So we maintain, with what we hope is appropriate humility, the principle of sola Scriptura.
Though truth is propositional, it is not only something to be believed, but also to be received in worship and practiced in wisdom. This balance shapes our understanding of discipleship and preaching. We want to encourage a passion for sound doctrine, but we know that Christian growth is not simply cognitive information transfer. Christian growth occurs only when the whole life is shaped by Christian practices in community—including prayer, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, fellowship, and the public ministry of the Word.
Our theoretical knowledge of God’s truth is only partial even when accurate, but we nevertheless can have certainty that what the Word tells us is true ( Luke 1:4 ). It is through the power of the Holy Spirit that we receive the words of the gospel in full assurance and conviction ( 1 Thess 1:5 ).

II. How should we read the Bible? (The hermeneutical issue)

Reading “along” the whole Bible. To read along the whole Bible is to discern the single basic plot–line of the Bible as God’s story of redemption (e.g., Luke 24:44 ) as well as the themes of the Bible (e.g., covenant, kingship, temple) that run through every stage of history and every part of the canon, climaxing in Jesus Christ. In this perspective, the gospel appears as creation, fall, redemption, restoration. It brings out the purpose of salvation, namely, a renewed creation. As we confess in CS–(1), [God] providentially brings about his eternal good purposes to redeem a people for himself and restore his fallen creation, to the praise of his glorious grace.
Reading “across” the whole Bible. To read across the whole Bible is to collect its declarations, summons, promises, and truth–claims into categories of thought (e.g., theology, Christology, eschatology) and arrive at a coherent understanding of what it teaches summarily (e.g., Luke 24:46–47 ). In this perspective, the gospel appears as God, sin, Christ, faith. It brings out the means of salvation, namely the substitutionary work of Christ and our responsibility to embrace it by faith. As we confess in CS–(7), Jesus Christ acted as our representative and substitute, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Many today (but not all) who major in the first of these two ways of reading the Bible—that is, reading along the whole Bible—dwell on the more corporate aspects of sin and salvation. The cross is seen mainly as an example of sacrificial service and a defeat of worldly powers rather than substitution and propitiation for our sins. Ironically, this approach can be very legalistic. Instead of calling people to individual conversion through a message of grace, people are called to join the Christian community and kingdom program of what God is doing to liberate the world. The emphasis is on Christianity as a way of life to the loss of a blood–bought status in Christ received through personal faith. In this imbalance there is little emphasis on vigorous evangelism and apologetics, on expository preaching, and on the marks and importance of conversion/the new birth.
On the other hand, the older evangelicalism (though not all of it) tended to read across the Bible. As a result it was more individualistic, centering almost completely on personal conversion and safe passage to heaven. Also, its preaching, though expository, was sometimes moralistic and did not emphasize how all biblical themes climax in Christ and his work. In this imbalance there is little or no emphasis on the importance of the work of justice and mercy for the poor and the oppressed, and on cultural production that glorifies God in the arts, business, etc.
We do not believe that in best practice these two ways of reading the Bible are at all contradictory, even though today, many pit them against each other. We believe that on the contrary the two, at their best, are integral for grasping the meaning of the biblical gospel. The gospel is the declaration that through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has come to reconcile individuals by his grace and renew the whole world by and for his glory.

III. How should we relate to the culture around us? (The contextualization issue)

By being a counter–culture. We want to be a church that not only gives support to individual Christians in their personal walks with God, but one that also shapes them into the alternative human society God creates by his Word and Spirit. (See below, point 5c.)
For the common good. It is not enough that the church should counter the values of the dominant culture. We must be a counter–culture for the common good. We want to be radically distinct from the culture around us and yet, out of that distinct identity, we should sacrificially serve neighbors and even enemies, working for the flourishing of people, both here and now, and in eternity. We therefore do not see our corporate worship services as the primary connecting point with those outside. Rather, we expect to meet our neighbors as we work for their peace, security, and well–being, loving them in word and deed. If we do this we will be “salt” and “light” in the world (sustaining and improving living conditions, showing the world the glory of God by our patterns of living; Matt 5:13–16 ). As the Jewish exiles were called to love and work for the shalom of Babylon ( Jer 29:7 ), Christians too are God’s people “in exile” ( 1 Peter 1:1 ; James 1:1 ). The citizens of God’s city should be the best possible citizens of their earthly city ( Jer 29:4–7 ). We are neither overly optimistic nor pessimistic about our cultural influence, for we know that, as we walk in the steps of the One who laid down his life for his opponents, we will receive persecution even while having social impact ( 1 Peter 2:12 ).
We believe that every expression of Christianity is necessarily and rightly contextualized, to some degree, to particular human culture; there is no such thing as a universal a–historical expression of Christianity. But we never want to be so affected by our culture that we compromise gospel truths. How then do we keep our balance?
The answer is that we cannot “contextualize” the gospel in the abstract, as a thought experiment. If a church seeks to be a counter–culture for people’s temporal and eternal good, it will guard itself against both the legalism that can accompany undue cultural withdrawal and the compromise that comes with over–adaptation. If we seek service rather than power, we may have significant cultural impact. But if we seek direct power and social control, we will, ironically, be assimilated into the very idolatries of wealth, status, and power we seek to change.
The gospel itself holds the key to appropriate contextualization. If we over–contextualize, it suggests that we want too much the approval of the receiving culture. This betrays a lack of confidence in the gospel. If we under–contextualize, it suggests that we want the trappings of our own sub–culture too much. This betrays a lack of gospel humility and a lack of love for our neighbor.

IV. In what ways is the gospel unique?

This gospel fills Christians with humility and hope, meekness and boldness, in a unique way. The biblical gospel differs markedly from traditional religions as well as from secularism. Religions operate on the principle: “I obey, therefore I am accepted,” but the gospel principle is: “I am accepted through Christ, therefore I obey.” So the gospel differs from both irreligion and religion. You can seek to be your own “lord and savior” by breaking the law of God, but you can also do so by keeping the law in order to earn your salvation.

Irreligion and secularism tend to inflate self–encouraging, uncritical, “self–esteem”; religion and moralism crush people under guilt from ethical standards that are impossible to maintain. The gospel, however, humbles and affirms us at the same time, since, in Christ, each of us is simultaneously just, and a sinner still. At the same time, we are more flawed and sinful than we ever dared believe, yet we are more loved and accepted than we ever dared hope.

Secularism tends to make people selfish and individualistic. Religion and morality in general tend to make people tribal and self–righteous toward other groups (since their salvation has, they think, been earned by their achievement). But the gospel of grace, centered on a man dying for us while we were his enemies, removes self–righteousness and selfishness and turns its members to serve others both for the temporal flourishing of all people, especially the poor, and for their salvation. It moves us to serve others irrespective of their merits, just as Christ served us ( Mark 10:45 ).

Secularism and religion conform people to behavioral norms through fear (of consequences) and pride (a desire for self–aggrandizement). The gospel moves people to holiness and service out of grateful joy for grace, and out of love of the glory of God for who he is in himself.

V. What is gospel–centered ministry?

It is characterized by:

Empowered corporate worship. The gospel changes our relationship with God from one of hostility or slavish compliance to one of intimacy and joy. The core dynamic of gospel–centered ministry is therefore worship and fervent prayer. In corporate worship God’s people receive a special life–transforming sight of the worth and beauty of God, and then give back to God suitable expressions of his worth. At the heart of corporate worship is the ministry of the Word. Preaching should be expository (explaining the text of Scripture) and Christ–centered (expounding all biblical themes as climaxing in Christ and his work of salvation). Its ultimate goal, however, is not simply to teach but to lead the hearers to worship, individual and corporate, that strengthens their inner being to do the will of God.
Evangelistic effectiveness. Because the gospel (unlike religious moralism) produces people who do not disdain those who disagree with them, a truly gospel–centered church should be filled with members who winsomely address people’s hopes and aspirations with Christ and his saving work. We have a vision for a church that sees conversions of rich and poor, highly educated and less educated, men and women, old and young, married and single, and all races. We hope to draw highly secular and postmodern people, as well as reaching religious and traditional people. Because of the attractiveness of its community and the humility of its people, a gospel–centered church should find people in its midst who are exploring and trying to understand Christianity. It must welcome them in hundreds of ways. It will do little to make them “comfortable” but will do much to make its message understandable. In addition to all this, gospel–centered churches will have a bias toward church planting as one of the most effective means of evangelism there is.
Counter–cultural community. Because the gospel removes both fear and pride, people should get along inside the church who could never get along outside. Because it points us to a man who died for his enemies, the gospel creates relationships of service rather than of selfishness. Because the gospel calls us to holiness, the people of God live in loving bonds of mutual accountability and discipline. Thus the gospel creates a human community radically different from any society around it. Regarding sex, the church should avoid both the secular society’s idolization of sex and traditional society’s fear of it. It is a community which so loves and cares practically for its members that biblical chastity makes sense. It teaches its members to conform their bodily being to the shape of the gospel—abstinence outside of heterosexual marriage and fidelity and joy within. Regarding the family, the church should affirm the goodness of marriage between a man and a woman, calling them to serve God by reflecting his covenant love in life–long loyalty, and by teaching his ways to their children. But it also affirms the goodness of serving Christ as singles, whether for a time or for a life. The church should surround all persons suffering from the fallenness of our human sexuality with a compassionate community and family. Regarding money, the church’s members should engage in radical economic sharing with one another—so “there are no needy among them” ( Acts 4:34 ). Such sharing also promotes a radically generous commitment of time, money, relationships, and living space to social justice and the needs of the poor, the oppressed, the immigrant, and the economically and physically weak. Regarding power, it is visibly committed to power–sharing and relationship–building among races, classes, and generations that are alienated outside of the Body of Christ. The practical evidence of this is that our local churches increasingly welcome and embrace people of all races and cultures. Each church should seek to reflect the diversity of its local geographical community, both in the congregation at large and in its leadership.
The integration of faith and work. The good news of the Bible is not only individual forgiveness but the renewal of the whole creation. God put humanity in the garden to cultivate the material world for his own glory and for the flourishing of nature and the human community. The Spirit of God not only converts individuals (e.g., John 16:8 ) but also renews and cultivates the face of the earth (e.g., Gen 1:2 ; Psalm 104:30 ). Therefore Christians glorify God not only through the ministry of the Word, but also through their vocations of agriculture, art, business, government, scholarship—all for God’s glory and the furtherance of the public good. Too many Christians have learned to seal off their faith–beliefs from the way they work in their vocation. The gospel is seen as a means of finding individual peace and not as the foundation of a worldview—a comprehensive interpretation of reality affecting all that we do. But we have a vision for a church that equips its people to think out the implications of the gospel on how we do carpentry, plumbing, data–entry, nursing, art, business, government, journalism, entertainment, and scholarship. Such a church will not only support Christians’ engagement with culture, but will also help them work with distinctiveness, excellence, and accountability in their trades and professions. Developing humane yet creative and excellent business environments out of our understanding of the gospel is part of the work of bringing a measure of healing to God’s creation in the power of the Spirit. Bringing Christian joy, hope, and truth to embodiment in the arts is also part of this work. We do all of this because the gospel of God leads us to it, even while we recognize that the ultimate restoration of all things awaits the personal and bodily return of our Lord Jesus Christ (CS–[13]).
The doing of justice and mercy. God created both soul and body, and the resurrection of Jesus shows that he is going to redeem both the spiritual and the material. Therefore God is concerned not only for the salvation of souls but also for the relief of poverty, hunger, and injustice. The gospel opens our eyes to the fact that all our wealth (even wealth for which we worked hard) is ultimately an unmerited gift from God. Therefore the person who does not generously give away his or her wealth to others is not merely lacking in compassion, but is unjust. Christ wins our salvation through losing, achieves power through weakness and service, and comes to wealth through giving all away. Those who receive his salvation are not the strong and accomplished but those who admit they are weak and lost. We cannot look at the poor and the oppressed and callously call them to pull themselves out of their own difficulty. Jesus did not treat us that way. The gospel replaces superiority toward the poor with mercy and compassion. Christian churches must work for justice and peace in their neighborhoods through service even as they call individuals to conversion and the new birth. We must work for the eternal and common good and show our neighbors we love them sacrificially whether they believe as we do or not. Indifference to the poor and disadvantaged means there has not been a true grasp of our salvation by sheer grace.

The ministry we have outlined is relatively rare. There are many seeker–driven churches that help many people find Christ. There are many churches seeking to engage the culture through political activism. There is a fast–growing charismatic movement with emphasis on glorious, passionate, corporate worship. There are many congregations with strong concern for doctrinal rigor and purity and who work very hard to keep themselves separate from the world. There are many churches with a radical commitment to the poor and marginalized.

We do not, however, see enough individual churches that embody the full, integrative gospel balance we have outlined here. And while, in God’s grace, there is an encouraging number of bright spots in the church, we see no broad movement yet of this gospel–centered ministry. We believe such a balance will produce churches with winsome and theologically substantial preaching, dynamic evangelism and apologetics, and church growth and church planting. They will emphasize repentance, personal renewal, and holiness of life. At the same time, and in the same congregations, there will be engagement with the social structures of ordinary people, and cultural engagement with art, business, scholarship, and government. There will be calls for radical Christian community in which all members share wealth and resources and make room for the poor and the marginalized. These priorities will all be combined and will mutually strengthen one another in each local church.

What could lead to a growing movement of gospel–centered churches? The ultimate answer is that God must, for his own glory, send revival in response to the fervent, extraordinary, prevailing prayer of his people. But we believe there are also penultimate steps to take. There is great hope if we can unite on the nature of truth, how best to read the Bible, on our relationship to culture, on the content of the gospel, and on the nature of gospel–centered ministry. We believe that such commitments will drive us afresh toward Scripture, toward the Christ of Scripture, toward the gospel of Christ, and we will begin to grow in our ability, by God’s grace, as churches, to “act in line with the truth of the gospel” ( Gal 2:14 ). We are ashamed of our sins and failures, grateful beyond measure for forgiveness, and eager to see afresh the glory of God and embody conformity to his Son.

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The Christ The Redeemer in Rio De Janeiro

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Instructions Followed To The Letter
Deadlines Met At Every Stage
Unique And Plagiarism Free

Christ the Redeemer

By Elder Carlos H. Amado

Of the Seventy

[The Redeemer’s] sacrifice blessed everyone, from Adam, the first, to the last of all human beings.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was born and died in unique circumstances. He lived and grew up in humble conditions, without material things. He said of Himself, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head” ( Luke 9:58 ).

He never received honors, favors, recognition, nor preferred treatment from the political leaders of the earth or from the religious leaders of His day. Neither did He sit in the highest seats of the synagogues.

His preaching was simple, and even though multitudes followed after Him, His ministry always consisted of blessing people one by one. He performed innumerable miracles among those who accepted Him as the One sent from God.

He gave His Apostles authority and power to do miracles “and greater works” than those He performed ( John 14:12 ), but He never delegated to them the privilege of forgiving sins. His enemies became indignant when they heard Him say, “Go, and sin no more” ( John 8:11 ) or “Thy sins are forgiven [thee]” ( Luke 7:48 ). That right belonged only to Him because He is the Son of God and because He would pay for those sins with His Atonement.

His Power over Death

His power over death was another divine attribute. Great Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, pleaded “that he would come into his house: for he had one only daughter, … and she lay a dying” ( Luke 8:41–42 ). The Master heard his plea, and while they were walking, a servant came to Jairus and told him, “Thy daughter is dead; trouble not the Master” ( Luke 8:49 ). After entering the house, Jesus asked for everyone to go out, and straightway, taking her by the hand, He said to her, “Arise” ( Luke 8:54 ).

On another occasion, while He was traveling to the city of Nain, He came upon a funeral procession, a widow weeping for the death of her only son. Full of mercy, He touched the bier and said, “Young man, I say unto thee, Arise” ( Luke 7:14 ). The people, upon seeing the miracle, exclaimed, “A great prophet is risen up among us; and … God hath visited his people” ( Luke 7:16 ). This miracle was even more noteworthy because they had already declared the young man legally dead and were on the way to bury him. With two young people brought back to life, the evidence of His authority and power over death astonished the believers and filled the defamers with fear.

The third occasion was the most impressive. Martha, Mary, and Lazarus were siblings whom Christ would often visit. When people informed Him that Lazarus was sick, He remained two days before leaving to come to the family. In consoling Martha after her brother’s death, He categorically testified to her, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” ( John 11:25 ).

When the Savior asked for the mourners to remove the stone from the sepulchre, Martha timidly whispered to Him, “Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days” ( John 11:39 ).

Then Jesus lovingly reminded her, “Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?” ( John 11:40 ). And having said this, He cried out with a loud voice:

“Lazarus, come forth.

“And he that was dead came forth” ( John 11:43–44 ).

After Lazarus’s four days in the grave, the enemies of the Son of God were faced with irrefutable evidence they could not ignore, diminish, or distort, and they senselessly and maliciously “from that day forth … took counsel together for to put him to death” ( John 11:53 ).

The New Commandment

Later on, the living Christ celebrated in Jerusalem, along with His Apostles, His last Feast of the Passover, established the ordinance of the sacrament, and gave them the commandment to love one another through sincere service.

His Agony in Gethsemane

After that, in the most sublime show of His love for humankind, and in the full exercise of His will, He walked bravely and determinedly to face His most demanding trial. In the Garden of Gethsemane, in utter loneliness, He suffered the most intense agony, bleeding from each pore. In total submission before His Father, He atoned for our sins and also took upon Him our illnesses and afflictions in order to know how to succor us (see Alma 7:11–13 ).

We are indebted to Him and to our Heavenly Father because His sacrifice blessed everyone, from Adam, the first, to the last of all human beings.

Condemnation and Crucifixion of the Savior

Once His agony in Gethsemane was concluded, He voluntarily gave Himself up to His detractors. Betrayed by one of His own, He was hurriedly condemned, in a manner both unjust and illegal, in a trial both manipulated and incomplete. That same night He was accused of the crime of blasphemy and condemned to death. In their hatred and thirst for vengeance—because He testified to them that He was the Son of God—His enemies plotted for Pilate to condemn Him. To that end, they changed the accusation of blasphemy to sedition so that His death would be by crucifixion.

His condemnation among the Romans was even more cruel: their mockings and scorn regarding His spiritual kingdom, the humiliating coronation with a crown of thorns, His painful scourging, and the prolonged agony of His public Crucifixion were all a clear warning for every person who might dare to declare himself or herself His disciple.

At each moment of His suffering, the Redeemer of the world showed exceptional self-control. He always thought of blessing others; with kindness and tenderness, He pleaded for John to take care of His mother, Mary. He asked His Father in Heaven to forgive the executioners who crucified Him. With His work on earth fulfilled, He commended His spirit to God and breathed His last breath. The physical body of Christ was taken to the tomb and remained there three days.

The Work of the Redeemer among the Dead

While His disciples were suffering from sadness, discouragement, and uncertainty, our Savior, in another phase of His Father’s glorious plan, extended His ministry in a new way. In the short period of three days, He worked untiringly to organize the immense work of salvation among the dead. Those days became some of the most hope-filled of all for the family of God. During that visit He organized His faithful followers so that they would bear glad tidings of redemption to those who did not in life come to know of the glorious plan or who had rejected it. Now they would have the opportunity to be freed from their captivity and to be redeemed by the God of both the living and the dead (see D&C 138:19, 30–31 ).

The Firstfruits of the Resurrection

With His work completed in the spirit world, He returned to earth—forever to unite His spirit with His physical body. Even though He had authoritatively shown His power over death, the scriptural accounts of those He brought back to life before His Resurrection demonstrate that they were only coming back to a life that had been miraculously prolonged; they would yet die.

Christ was the first to be resurrected and never die again, to possess forever a perfect, eternal body. In His resurrected state, He appeared to Mary, who as soon as she recognized Him, began to worship Him. Our Redeemer, with great tenderness, warned her concerning His new and glorious condition: “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father” ( John 20:17 )—providing an additional witness that His ministry in the spirit world was real and complete. Then, using language that confirmed the reality of His Resurrection, He said, “I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God” ( John 20:17 ). After going to His Father, He returned again and appeared to His Apostles. “He shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord” ( John 20:20 ).

The Redeemer Will Return

I testify that Christ will return in a way very different from His first coming. He will come in power and glory with all the just and faithful Saints. He will come as King of kings and Lord of lords, as the Prince of Peace, the promised Messiah, the Savior and Redeemer, to judge the living and the dead. I love and serve Him with all my heart, and I plead that we may serve with joy and dedication and that we may remain faithful to Him until the end. In His name, Jesus Christ, amen.

Egyptian man visits all 7 Wonders of the World in record time

An Egyptian man’s whirlwind world tour has been verified as a new world record.

Magdy Eissa, 45, achieved the fastest time to visit the New 7 Wonders of the World , doing so in 6 days 11 hrs 52 min – four and a half hours quicker than the previous record set last year by Englishman Jamie McDonald.

Beginning at the Great Wall of China, Magdy visited India’s Taj Mahal, the ancient city of Petra in Jordan, Rome’s Colosseum, Christ the Redeemer in Brazil, Machu Picchu in Peru, and finally the ancient Mayan city Chichén Itzá in Mexico.

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Only scheduled public transport may be used when attempting this record, as Guinness World Records cannot endorse a race against the clock on public roads.

Magdy said that planning his record-breaking route was a “monumental” task which took almost one and a half years.

“I had to navigate a complex web of flights, trains, buses, subways and walking between transportation hubs and the Wonders,” he explained.

“A single disruption could derail the entire itinerary and result in a flight back home!”

Each leg of the journey required researching transit times, mapping out the best public transportation options, accounting for immigration queues, layovers, and connections to the next destination.

Some legs were more straightforward, such as the overnight transatlantic flight from Europe to Rio de Janeiro. However, reaching Machu Picchu afterwards proved to be a challenge, taking over a day and requiring several forms of public transport (as well as lots of walking).

Magdy was fortunate to not suffer any major disruptions to his schedule, but he did have a few close calls.

He overslept and missed the daily bus to Petra, forcing him to scramble to find another public bus, which was difficult as the site is primarily served by private tour operators and taxis.

And he almost didn’t make it to the seventh Wonder because he nearly missed his flight from Peru to Mexico – luckily, airline staff reopened the check-in counter after Magdy explained that he was attempting to break a world record.

The biggest issue he faced thankfully came after he’d completed his record attempt. Having sped around the world in under a week, it took him two whole days just to get back home to Cairo due to flight cancellations.

Magdy’s personal highlights of the trip included seeing alpacas in Peru and randomly bumping into an old friend whom he hadn’t seen in years.

“Being able to reconnect, even briefly, with a familiar face amidst the whirlwind of the record attempt was a cherished moment,” he said.

Traversing the globe at such a rapid clip, hitting one iconic destination after another, created a sense of awe and accomplishment.

Having accomplished a childhood dream by visiting the New 7 Wonders, in addition to breaking a world record in the process, Magdy says he feels an “immense sense of personal accomplishment”.

He added: “Beyond the personal satisfaction, this challenge also allowed me to momentarily let go of the daily stresses and pressures of normal life.

“The frenetic pace and problem-solving required throughout the record attempt served as an effective outlet to vent and decompress.

“Everyone should experience and invest in travel, an enriching experience that everyone should have at some point in their lives. It opens minds, broadens perspectives, and allows people to discover new cultures, ideas, and ways of life.”

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Christ the Redeemer
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Egyptian man visits all 7 Wonders of the World in record time
Beginning at the Great Wall of China, Magdy visited India's Taj Mahal, the ancient city of Petra in Jordan, Rome's Colosseum, Christ the Redeemer in Brazil, Machu Picchu in Peru, and finally the ancient Mayan city Chichén Itzá in Mexico.

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Christ the Redeemer – History, Meaning, Height, Construction & Other Notable Facts

The story behind Christ the Redeemer

Why was Christ the Redeemer statue constructed?

Construction of the Christ the Redeemer statue

Renovations and Restoration

Other Interesting Facts about Christ the Redeemer

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Christ the Redeemer - One of the Seven Wonders of the World

History Of Christ The Redeemer Statue

Construction Of Christ The Redeemer

Significance Of Christ The Redeemer

Weather Effects And Renovation

Mount Corcovado

Visiting The Christ The Redeemer

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The Icon: Rio’s “Cristo”

Here are a few fun facts about the instantly recognizable statue:

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History & Culture

The Story Behind Christ the Redeemer Statue

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Why was Christ the Redeemer Built?

Symbol of Brazilian Catholicism

Commemoration of 100th Anniversary of Brazil's Independence

When Was Christ the Redeemer Built?

Inauguration in 1931

Renovations and Upgrades Since Then

How Was Christ the Redeemer Built?

Designers & Engineers Involved: Heitor da Silva Costa & Paul Landowski

What Is Christ the Redeemer Made Of?

Frequently Asked Questions

How Long Did it Take to Build Christ the Redeemer?

Is the Statue Important to Brazilians?

So… how did the statue get up there?

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How Much Did the Statue Cost To Build?

How did the Christ the Redeemer statue’s construction impact Rio de Janeiro’s local economy?

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