Where did the idea to build the Christ statue in Rio come from?

The person who originally had the idea of building the Christ statue was the French-born Lazarist priest Pierre-Marie Bos. He lived in Rio de Janeiro most of his life and the idea of building such a statue on top of Corcovado was permanently in his mind. He talked about it for decades without success. He eventually died in 1916, never seeing his dream come true. Ten years later in 1926, the Christ statue construction began.

Why was the Christ statue built?

Christ the Redeemer was built to celebrate the centenary of Brazil’s independence (1822) from Portugal. The first steps toward the construction of the monument in Rio de Janeiro was in 1922 when more than 20,000 women submitted a petition to the president of Brazil asking for the necessary authorization to build a statue of Christ on Corcovado summit. That same year, it was authorized and a foundation stone was laid.

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