Rio de Janeiro’s famous art deco statue known as “Christ the Redeemer” will no longer be the largest statue of Jesus Christ in Brazil.
“Christ the Protector” is currently under construction in the city of Encantado in southern Brazil. Once completed, it will stand 141 feet tall with a wingspan of more than 90 feet wide. “Christ the Redeemer” stands at 125 feet tall with its pedestal and 92 feet wide.
“Christ the Protector” was created by sculptor Genésio Gomes Moura and his son Markus. It was financed by the Friends of Christ Association (AACristo). The total cost of the statue is approximately $353,000.
A unique aspect of the statue is that visitors will be able to take an elevator inside the statue to the “heart” of Jesus Christ. “It will be a glass opening from where people will be able to film and photograph the valley,” head project supervisor Artur Lopes de Souza says on AACristo’s website.
The sculpture will be the third tallest statue of Jesus Christ in the world. There is a 172-foot concrete statue called “Christ the King” in Świebodzin, Poland, that was completed in 2010.
There is also a new statue, “Christ of Peace,” currently under construction in Mexico that will stand 249 feet tall when completed. That project is headed by Mexican actor Eduardo Verastegui (Bella), a Catholic actor and pro-life advocate.
“I understood that I was not born to be an actor or something else, but to know, love and serve Jesus Christ,” Verastegui said in 2003.
