Construction Plan

The plans for the construction of the Christ started in 1921, when religious and government authorities, in Rio de Janeiro, met to discuss the idea. A year later, there was a project contest and engineer Heitor da Silva Costa was the winner of it. His drawing showed Christ holding the globe in one hand and the cross on the other. However, later he changed it to the Art Deco design that it has today: Christ with His arms open as if welcoming the ’carioca’ population which they really loved.

The Brazilian government didn’t find a national professional capable of building such work at that time. They, then, commissioned Polish-French sculptor Paul Landowski to do it. The idea that, perhaps, this statue was a gift from France, probably came from the nationality of the sculptor who is half-French and worked from France. It took five years to create the outer part of the statue, and it was shipped back to Brazil in parts.

Material of the Statue

This masterpiece was sculpted from soapstone also known as steatite, a type of metamorphic rock. It contains several minerals, primarily talc, but also chlorite, tremolite, and quartz. It may be gray, blueish, green, or brown in color. Its surface is soft because of the talc content which allows easy molding. However, it’s also a strong rock that is time and weather-resistant. Needless to say, it was the perfect material for building this magnificent statue.

No Wonder

In 2000, the New 7 Wonders Foundation based in Zurich, Switzerland set up a campaign through free web voting to choose the New 7 Wonders of the World of the current era. On 7 July 2007, the winners were revealed and Christ the Redeemer was among them. So, we feel very proud that the Christ was selected as one of the New 7 Wonders of the World.

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Soon after realizing that Brazil was not an island, the name was changed from Ilha de Vera Cruz to Terra de Santa Cruz (Land of the Holy Cross). However, due to the strong religious practice of the time, the reference to the cross was considered blasphemy and the name was dropped.

In spite of Brazil’s natural resources, Portugal didn’t seem very excited about it because they didn’t want to make big investments to exploit the hidden treasures. It was easier to sail to India for their spices, precious stones, and luxurious artifacts. So between 1502 and 1512, the Portuguese crown leased their claim to Brazil to a Lisbon merchant group for commercial exploitation.

The first thing this group started harvesting was a red wood which Brazil had plenty of. This wood produced a deep red dye which was already in demand by the European cloth industry and was previously imported from India at high prices. Now, Brazil would be the provider at much cheaper prices.

At the exploration period, whenever a country discovered a new land, they claimed it and moved in. But as Portugal took three decades to do that, Brazil had many visitors from different lands including Spain, France, and Holland. And the French harvested a lot of dyewood illegally.

This tree was called pau-brasil (brazilwood). As the wood was coming to Europe in great quantities, people started referring to the new land as the land of Brazil. Later, it became just Brazil.

Unfortunately, the extreme redwood harvest which was done both legally and illegally brought it close to extinction.

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As you may know Brazil is a tropical country, and it’s rich in a variety of tropical and exotic fruit. Among them, there’s one called caju – thus cashew. This fruit has a shape that resembles that of pear, and at the bottom of it hangs a seed covered by a hard shell. That seed is eatable and is what Americans know as the nut. To be able to get the nut out of the shell, it has to be roasted. In Brazil, it’s usually done over an open fire. Then, you can break the shell and get a beautiful and tasteful nut which resembles the shape of its shell.

You’re probably thinking; what about the fruit, is it eatable? Yes, it is! You know it’s ready to be picked when it gets a beautiful yellowish to reddish coat. This fruit can enjoyed in different ways: it can be eaten right after being picked from the tree, including it’s smooth skin, just like an apple. It can be squeezed to make some delicious juice either to drink or make popsicles. It can also be cooked with sugar to make a delicious dessert or dried as a fig. As a matter of fact, when dried it has the same texture as that of a fig.

Now, you know that a cashew  as it’s called in the United States is just half of the story. 

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It’s very common for extended families to live together. Two generations ago, it was common for the families to have many children. My grandparents, for instance, had twelve kids and they all  lived with their parents for a long time. I remember living with my grandparents all the way up to my teen years. Then, I had the rare opportunity of traveling to a foreign country for school and living there with a family for five years.

In Brasil, it’s customary for the children to live with their parents until they get married. That is basically what parents, families and society expect. I believe that happens partly because it’s difficult for a single person to be able to support himself or herself and live on their own . Unless, the young person chose a great career and landed himself or herself an excellent job right after graduation. And if they happen to remain single and never improve their finances, they stay at their parents home. 

When two young people marry, they usually both work and do their best to save money and improve their lives as they build a family together. And whenever, finances are not going well for them, it’s very normal for them to move back with of one their in-laws. 

Then, as maturity comes along and aging sets in, it’s very natural for the parents to retire and live close to or move in with one of their children. We do not have many nursing or retirement homes in Brazil.  According to a recent study done by the IPEA (Instituto de pesquisa Econômica Aplicada), an economy research organization, there are 20 million elderly people in Brazil and only 218 public nursing homes. Many of those people need care that they can’t get at home, so they have to go to one of those homes.

The government only contributes with 22% of the revenue needed for the homes. The rest comes from the elderly people, their families, and some philanthropic organizations.  There are also some homes provided by religious organizations specifically for their own members who never married and don’t have any family that could provide them with a place to live.

Brazilian people value having their grandmas and grandpas around their families and do their best to accommodate them within their possibilities in spite of the lack of governmental resources.

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