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

Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) has been named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World!

Since the Seven Wonders of the World no longer exist in any recognizable form, (except the Pyramids of Egypt), the Swiss-Canadian millionaire pilot Bernard Weber founded the NGO New Seven Wonders Foundation in order to elect in 2007 the New Seven Wonders of the World.

The initial list included 77 monuments, art constructions, and tourist attractions built by humans around the world. The vast majority of sites from the first list were eliminated, and the list was cut down to 21. Because votes came in from around the world via the Internet, the Christ the Redeemer was voted as one of the semifinalists.

Up to that moment, the Brazilian government had made no major effort to get Christ the Redeemer elected. However, after they saw the international show of support, many Brazilians began to take notice and realized that the Christ statue should be elected not because it represented a religious symbol, but because it represented Brazil.

And so the movement began. Various churches and religions started supporting Christ the Redeemer in the vote for the New Seven Wonders of the World. Clubs, institutions, and companies in different states encouraged members and employees to vote for the Christ statue.

The mass media used their power to persuade Brazilians to go on the Internet and vote for Christ the Redeemer. Anyone who was able to click a computer mouse was eligible to vote. Step-by-step how-to-vote instructions were sent out to persuade those with limited computer know-how that they, too, could vote for Rio de Janeiro’s most famous monument. Millions of Brazilians also unexpectedly used their cell phones by responding to the following message: “Press 4916 and vote for Christ. It’s free!”

On 7th July, 2007, this combined effort paid off. Christ the Redeemer was finally elected as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, beating competitors such as the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower. The Christ statue received over 100 million votes and took third after the Great Wall of China and Petra.