Christ the Redeemer
Arms stretched 28 metres wide at the summit of a 700-metre mountain, face turned east to meet the sunrise every morning.
Coming soon on iOS — be first to walk Rio de Janeiro offline.
The world's largest Art Deco sculpture, built 1922–1931 from reinforced concrete and soapstone, crowns Corcovado peak inside Tijuca National Park and overlooks the entire city. One of the New 7 Wonders of the World — and far from the original plan, which called for Christ holding a globe and a cross rather than the outstretched arms seen today.
What to look for
- The soapstone — one of the two materials the statue is made from alongside reinforced concrete; look for the stone finish across the surface.
- The arm span of 28 metres, nearly as wide as the full 30-metre height (pedestal excluded)
- The eastward orientation of the face — position yourself accordingly for the best light
Located at the 700-metre peak of Corcovado mountain inside Tijuca National Park — budget time for the ascent.
Christ the Redeemer is one of 29 sights worth the detour in Rio de Janeiro, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Rio de Janeiro pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Rio de Janeiro
- Maracanã StadiumOn 16 July 1950, 210,850 people packed this bowl to watch Uruguay beat Brazil 2–1 — the largest crowd ever recorded at a football match, and that record still stands.
- Museu NacionalOne fire in 2018 erased 200 years of collecting — 20 million objects, Brazil's oldest scientific institution, mostly gone overnight.
- Estádio Nilton Santos (Engenhão)The stadium that blew six times its construction budget and then hosted an Olympics.
- Arquivo Nacional (Brazilian National Archives)Brazil's paper memory since 1838 — founded as the Imperial Public Archives before the republic even existed.
- Rio–Niterói BridgeEight kilometres of concrete over open water, built so a bay full of ships and two city skylines could coexist.
- Valongo Wharf (Cais do Valongo)Up to one million Africans stepped off ships onto these stones — then the empire scrubbed the dock clean for a princess's wedding arrival.